Note to editor

Matts a smelly beard face. LOVE YOU MATT ;D

IDW: A first look

Hiya me Kate here, sorry for the lack of entrys but Tosh, my very first and very faithful old laptop, has passed away! D'=
As if this wasn't enough i am resorting to using my mum's mac book. Yes its nice and yes its small but typing on such a tiny keybourd is only possible when you have fingers with the density of twigs. DAMN YOU BREAD STICK FINGERS!!!
Anyway this is my first proper reveiw on the site but luckily Matt has kept you all busy with his mega megatron reveiws :) THANK YOU MATT =D
This article is about my first view of IDW. Matt suggested this to me during one of our many transformers discussions and after he lent me the first comic i am already hooked. ITS FANTASTIC. Well drawn, well written and well good is all i have to say. I would suggest this series to anyone who hasn't read them. Whether you are a new or old fan these are really good for all.
Matt has given a more detailed account of the series below but i just wanted to say my peice. In addition to this here is an awful joke i will try and add one to each of my reveiws...
What do you call a transformer in denial? =D


A car =L

IDW- The greatest Megatron of all time?

    I've had a revelation as of late. In my eyes, the greatest Transformers continuity ever created is that of IDW publishing. It's character designs are G1 but modernised, the characters themselves are so in depth it's outstanding, and the story finally brings to centre stage the "robots in disguise" element, from the infiltration nature of the Decepticons, to the Autobots hiding in vehicle mode to avoid detection from Skywatch, or more recently, other nations. It's also got, in my opinion, the coolest incarnation of  "The Wreckers" seen in Transformers so far, as well as the best imagining of Thunderwing, Galvatron, Nemesis Prime, and has the most original and in depth sub plots and factions I've ever seen from Transformers. (The Machination, the dead universe, Blugeon and his cultists of Thunderwing).
    But, the deal breaker for me? The greatest modernisation of a character? Megatron. And I know, I'm obviously a fanboy, but for those of you who have read anything IDW, you will probablly agree, that the Emperor of Destruction is back. He is portrayed in Megatron: Origins as he always has been in comics, leader of a miners revolt against the corrupt, decandant rulers of Cybertron. He feeds his followers a pure doctrine: take what is rightfully theres, what they have earned. Soon however, this doctrine takes a new doctrine: take what you can, take what you are strong enough too. The strong survive, the weak perish. Peach through tyranny. As well as this character development, Megatron is also shown to be possibly the greatest Megatron ever in terms of combat prowess. He easily dispatches an Ore-13 enhanced Starscream, is shown on multiple occasions to be more capable than even Optimus Prime, (Transformers: Escalation), and inspires fear even into whole detachments of Autobots. (Transformers: Infiltration). Currently, Megatron has had four forms as the story has progressed.

Here we see Megatron's first form, that of an Energon miner turned gladiator. It was he who led the revolt against Senator Decimus and his guards, with the intent on taking what the oppressed workers had rightfully earned. He then swiftly made his first kill, and at first, regreted it. However, after he escaped from a prison ship, and maked his second kill, in an illegal gladiator combat, his philosophy began to arise; that only the strong survive. This version of Megatron usually sported yellow and black hazard stripes, later replaced with red tribal markings.

Megatron's second form was essentally a major update on his first. Soundwave had Megatron outfitted with some of the best weaponary and armour on Cybertron, includind his dreaded Fusion Cannon. Visually, Megatron now had large, extending shoulders, larger tracks on his back, and a host of weapons on his person. His chest is also visually reinforced, and sports the Decepticon insignia, based on the necklace he wore while a gladiator. This body is seen towards the end of Megatron: Origins, and lasts through Stormbringer, then all the way into Transformers: Infiltration, when he first lands on earth.

Towards the start of Transformers: Escalation, we see Megatron adopting what he will use for the bulk of the Transformers storyline, including Devastation and All Hail Megatron, his G1 based pistol mode. Visually, it is allot more complex than anything seen before of this form, and has a visable trigger on the back. However, he still looks allot simpler than when he had a Cybertronnian tank alt mode, with large flat surfaces of his chest and arms. All in all, this couldn't be a better redesign of the original Megatron.

Finally, we are brought to IDW's brand new take on Megatron, best seen on the cover of the upcoming Ongoing Issue 15. We have yet to see this form in the comic itself, but the last we saw of Megatron was him being rebuilt after his near fatal experience on earth at the end of All Hail Megatron. I know allot of people won't like this, as it's the only form so far that doesn't bear much resemblance to G1, but in all honesty, I'm so taken aback by his awe inspiring appearance, I don't think I care. He has the, (although clearly updated to hell), Fusion Cannon, the same bucket head, and as long as he retains what it is to be Megatron, (personallity wise), I don't see why the rest should matter. Hats off to IDW, for having the courage to redesign what many people would argue should stay the same, forever. And hats off for doing it well.

Transform And Roll Out

In my previous post, I made a detailed run through of six of the key Megatrons throughout Transformers history. Now, I may be Decepticon biased, but I think it's only fair for Optimus Prime to get the same treatment. (You can't not like Prime, no matter how Decepticon fanboy-ish you claim to be). Again, I'll give a quick run down, then list them in order of personal favouates.

Generation One Optimus Prime

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

The original, 80s era, cartoon hero, this legendary robot of justice graced morning kids TV in thousands of homes. Armed with his Ion Cannon, and bearer of the Matrix of Leadership, this iconic Transformer is easily the most famous of them all. I know this probably sounds like nothing more than nostalgia fuelling my opinion, but you can't argue with the words "Optimus" and "Prime". Oh, and Peter Cullen. Enough said.

Beast Wars Optimus Primal

"Surrender, Megatron! You're scrapped!"

Just like BW Megatron, Optimus "Primal" is not the original Optimus, he just appears later in the timeline. Now, if I'm honest, I don't like his design, or his alt mode, (though I don't like the BW concept in general), or his voice. I suppose he had his cool moments, but in my opinion he just didn't do anything to warrant being as cool as the other Optimus'. And the religeous thing got old. Quickly.

Armada Optimus Prime

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

Armada Optimus Prime is the epitome of homage and ingenuity combined. In fact, his Cybertronian mode, (seen on the wiki if you didn't watch the show), was a G1/RID mock up. On earth, he has a similar alt mode to movie Optimus, but with a robot mode that doesn't look like crap. Oh, and he combines with his trailer to make the huge Super Optimus, (shown in the background of the picture), or with Jetfire to create the flying Jet Optimus, or with Overload to give him two giant Ion Cannons on his shoulders. Or, just all of them at once. Oh, and his voice is awesome.

Movie Optimus Prime

"Give me your face!"

Too tall, too slim, has the wrong alt mode, has the wrong colours, has stupid flames, has a stupid visor that retracts, has big lips, is too complicated, is wierdly overly violent, has crap plans, Peter Cullen didn't get the voice right, (although people don't like too admit it), and for god sake he looks like he's wearing pjamas................ The swords are cool....

Animated Optimus Prime

"So, this is what it feels like to be a hero..."

I know it was meant to be a new take on Optimus, but if they were going to make a protaganist that was abit of a noob, why choose him? Narrow mindedness aside, he also sounds stupid, and the worst part about him, the looks. I know Animated characters are generally out of proportion, but Optimus is out there with the worst of them, especially if you look around the waist area. And he has the oh so popular, ridiculous retracting visor. Although, I do like the axe homage, and at least he's Prime in the sense of being self sacrifising.

Prime Optimus Prime

Finally, we have the 2010 incarnation of Prime. He pretty much looks like G1 but hench, (though his new look for the show looks terrible, check the wiki if you want evidence), and acts more or less the same as well. Not much to be said here except that he's a very good update on the original Optimus.

Again, I''ve only listed the cartoon incarnations of Optimus, and here is how I feel they compare...

Generation One Optimus Prime

Prime Optimus Prime

Armada Optimus Prime

Movie Optimus Prime

Beast Wars Optimus Primal

Animated Optimus Prime

All Hail Megatron

Hey, Matt here. I thought I'd dedicate my first post to the Emperor of Destruction himself, Lord Megatron. First, I'll do a run down of the most significant Megatrons to grace the Transformers multiverse, then I'll have a go at listing them in my personal favourate order.

Generation One Megatron

"Such heroic nonsense..."

The original, and in my opinion, the best, G1 Megatron had it all, from a ruthless, tyrannic rule over the Decepticons, to his position of power ruled with an iron fist. He was also a monster in combat, as well as sporting the first incarnation of the dreaded Fusion Cannon. Sure, some of his energon cube grabbing quests where pretty silly, (lets forget the purple griffon incident), but Frank Welker's awesome voice made up for any flaws his tactics may have had.

Beast Wars Megatron

"Yesssss!"

Now, I know this guy was pretty popular, but I have to say I never really liked him. He wasn't even the real Megatron, just a criminal with the same name later in the G1 timeline. I didn't like his look, or his transformation, though there were two things that redeemed him in my eyes. His ultimate plan to destroy Optimus Prime in the past, changing the outcome of the entire war, and his amazing voice. Speaking of this amazing voice work, we are brought to...

Armada Megatron

"My power is your doom!"

The Megatron I grew up with. This probably does change my overall opinion of him, whether conciously or not, however, I'll try and list why I think he's awesome. First was his voice, the same that was given to BW Megatron. Second was his absolutely ruthless attitude towards the war. (Though, I will admit, he was if anything to harsh allot of the time, but I may only be saying that because of the injustice to Starscream in this series). Lastly, his altmode was an incredible idea, and was heavily inspired by Generation 2, but in my opinion, executed much better.

Movie Megatron

"Even in death there is no command but mine."

Ergh... just ergh. Ok, to be fair, he looked half decent in the second film in the series, as shown in this picture, but that's compared to his abysmal appearance in the first. And it's not just the appearance. He acts like an idiot, and in particular in the first movie, all he does is shout statments such as, "I AM MEGATRON!" Well done, you've finally learned your own name. And even the voice, which Hugo Weaving could have done so well, ends up sounding like a horse, overly deep idiot. What was Bay thinking...

Animated Megatron

"Laugh now, child. I will show you true fear..."

Now, I'm not a fan of Animated. But in my opinion, if there is one thing they got right, it's this bad boy. Some don't like his alt mode being a helicopter, and I have to agree, a tank fits Megatron so much better, but his robot form scream homage to G1, and his voice actually sounds good. He also acts ruthless, but unlike his movie brother, doesn't come across as stupid. My only regret is that he is one of the only propely propotioned Transformers in the whole series.

Prime Megatron

"I am the dominator. I am the destroyer. I am MEGATRON!"

Not allot to be said about this guy, as the show Transformers: Prime hasn't started yet, but from what I've seen while playing War For Cybertron, I like him. His redesign for the show has ruined his appearance abit in my opinion, (head over to the wiki if you haven't seen it), but, this is easily made up for in the fact that Frank Welker is once more taking up the mantle of Megatron for the show, something I have waited far too long for. What else needs saying... ah yes, he's brutal in combat, and is possibly the most arrogant of all Megatron's incarnations.

I've only listed the cartoon versions of Megatron here, and I am aware that I've missed out Generation Two and Robots in Disguise, as well as the other oarts of the Unicron Trilogy. Writing about the comic variants of the comics is best left for another time I believe, as they often vastly vary in personality. (Generation One in particular). And now, I present to you my very hard to decide list of Megatrons...

Generation One Megatron

Armada Megatron

Prime Megatron

Animated Megatron
Movie Megatron

Beast Wars Megatron

Introduction to me, Kate :)

Hello Transformer fans or maybe just some random guy looking for a laugh! My name is Kate and out of me and Matt i am the less experienced Fan :) My favorite transformer is BumbleBee and I have been a fan for two years now and have watched all Transformers: G1, The transformers movie (80's), Transformers animated and both bay formers movies! =D I HATE BEAST WARS ¬¬ But i will sit through it and reveiw it for any of you lovely people who ask me :) I can be alittle scary but you will learn to love me or hate me for i am like marmite. Matt on the other hand is like custard everyone loves him =P Anyways i am now at college taking Law, Criminology, Biology and Drama and theatre studies. ---I ADORE CATS --- I know that is nothing to do with that but you know its kind of important =P I will try to think of funny little anicdotes to accompany my posts which after this will be alot more transformery. :) The email that you can see is mine and matts so if you have any requests, enquires or even you want us to watch and reveiw a transformery thing then just email. We are really hoping to gett this blog off the ground and off to cybertron so any helpful comments or support is greatly appreciated. Love you all for reading Kate =P Over to Matt now for his introduction :)