Transformers Optimus Prime's Death Over a Video Game - Comic Tropes (Episode 57)
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- Опубліковано 18 лис 2024
- No one was a bigger fan of The Transformers in the 1980s than me. I had the toys, watched the cartoon religiously and bought the comic book. It was the first comic I started buying for myself, leading to me discovering others. But the book itself was pretty spotty with the quality. In this episode, I visit Cosmic Monkey Comics in Portland, OR to find a back issue where leader Optimus Prime makes a stunningly bad decision.
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"So how did the Decepticons win, Dad?"
"Well, Optimus Prime heroically felt like he wasn't really doing as good of a job as he could have. So, like a brick in a tumble dryer, he exploded."
Optimus Prime's brain existing on a single floppy disk explains A LOT about his character
Yeah, but it was a high-tech floppy. It could hold *4 WHOLE MEGABYTES!*
I just figured it was his personality that Ethan copied not his brain/mind.
According to James Roberts, this didn't fully back Optimus up and broke his mind, so the floppy disk wasn't enough to install his mind onto it.
@@JeremiahEcks777 🤔
@@saturncrush Yeah, it was his big theory floating around UK Transmasters for a few years until he included it in his self published Eugenesis book. I mean, it's fanon, not canon, but it's fanon I can believe giving a rational explanation for Optimus really not acting like Optimus on many occasions.
That, or Hi Q Binary Bonding with Optimus really screwed his brain up as well.
I love how Chris voices the character accurately. Wheeljack's voice is on point.
I've watched dozens of your videos and only just now realized those pictures behind you aren't in frames
I didn't either. Nice catch!!
What do you mean they are... hoooo youre right
Right?! It took me a long time to realize that too lol
Looks like a foldable backdrop used just for the videos
@@JRussellDay I think it was supposed to be like a comic book opened - he made a video about it. Doesn't look good though :P
Budiansky's Prime had a guilt complex and a death wish: he confides that the original Ark flight was supposed to be a suicide mission, and, when Shockwave keeps his head prisoner, expresses his deep guilt several times. The game with Megatron pushed him over the edge.
During the Marvel Unicron War, Prime even tells Scorponok that he feels the desire to live for the first time in ages.
As for good comics, most of the Simon Furman stuff is top-notch: I'd recommend Dreamwave's The War Within and IDW's Stormbringer.
the redheaded girl slowly descending into madness and hilarity is KILLING me xDDD
She was great
Love Transformers and it's strange because at the same time as the US comic, the UK comic was literally miles ahead and was one of the best comic on the shelves. Very well written and the writer (Simon Furman) really cared, being the Transformers equivalent of Larry Hama. So everybody in the UK has a different attitude to Transformers comics as they were incredibly good quality and the next best selling comic to 2000ad, also the first few years of issues were hand painted colour! I really recommend them! Especially Target 2006! Please find Target 2006! It'll blow your mind!
This! So much, this 😎
Yes. The UK stories blew away the US content.
Very worth tracking the whole UK run.
In the comics Megatron couldn't fly in robot mode like he could in the cartoon. So it was necessary for him to transform and hitch a ride with Onslaught
The ultimate ragequit.
Had to reply to this even though it’s two years old because that made me laugh out loud for real. Thanks :)
🤣🤣🤣🤣ok that got me.
The cheat code doesn't just allow you to come back into the game after you died, it specifically allows you to respawn in any area you have previously visited, this is how Megatron attempts to get the drop on Optimus.
Megatron was riding Onslaught. In the comics, the Decepticons can't fly. So his being a gun makes him more convenient to be transported (usually in a Seeker).
Additionally Megatron changes into a gun to compress his energy into a more specific aimed blast. This is made more explicit in IDW continuity but yeah...
As for this comic, THIS doesn't explain where they came from but the stories leading up to it revealed that Matrix energy brought them alive. They don't appear in US before this but they're definitely foreshadowed.
In terms of UK continuity, the Protectobots and Combaticons did actually show up briefly before this in a dream sequence.
Apparently Optimus can't tell the difference between his enemies. In around 18:30, Optimus refers to Vortex, the helicopter transformer, as Brawl. The tank guy is Brawl
"All Decepticons look the same to me."
@@AceAttorny have you seen the Seekers? They're like classic Mortal Kombat ninjas
To be fair he's only met them perhaps once before, max?
@@TupocalypseShakur Starscream is Kameleon, Skywarp is Rain, Acid Storm is Reptile, Thundercracker is Sub-Zero, Sunstorm is Scorpion, Nacelle is Noob Saibot, Bitstream is Smoke, and Red Wing is Ermac. Works for me.
From what I have read, a good starting point for IDW Transformers comics is The Death of Optimus Prime. it takes place shortly after the cybertronian civil war ends, and leads right into More Than Meets The Eye, about a large rag-tag group of 'bots on a quest to bring their planet back to its Golden Age, and Robots In Disguise, about everyone who stayed on the planet and how they deal with prejudice from Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeforms, transformers who never picked a side in the war, and other surprises and challenges that come back from Cybertron's past. There are also the Spotlight comics, where they focus on particular characters from the IDW run. for the full run from IDW, you really need to start in 2005, and it goes all the way to i think 2018, as starting in 2019, IDW rebooted the Transformers universe as a tie-in with the Transformers Cybertron: Siege toyline. In IDW 2005, there were several crossovers with other hasbro properties, such as GI Joe, to help add to the confusing mix. Sorry if this was just a wall of text, but the IDW Transformers series is the one series that I keep following, thanks to the smart device app specifically for Transformers comics from IDW. I'm not sure if it's still available at this time, but there was a humble bundle of the entire run of the IDW 2005 continuity, with I think a preview or the entire first issue of the new series.
In the comics the only Transformers who can fly are the ones with flying alt modes, because of that Megatron can’t fly, and he would constantly transform into his gun mode so he could fit into other decepticons alt modes.
I love that it was Spider-Man in the symbiote suit...
Extra slimey
The lore of transformers is SO rich. It's crazy to me that it has SUCH a deep history for a kids toyline.
And so many great 'tones' too. Rescuebots is cute and enjoyable while Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers #4 is INCREDIBLY dark and nutty.
Are you surprised? It's Megatron, even though he hasn't gone as coo-coo for coco puffs as he does when upgraded into Galvatron, yelling at his subordinates randomly is perfectly in character.
Megatron basically only needs to transform in two situations: when he needs to fit inside small spaces or when he's cheating the laws of physics by using his alternate form which is many, many times lighter than his giant robot form.
He already has a giant fusion cannon on his arm so it's not like his gun form is a better weapon.
16:49
So basically, if I remember correctly, the idea was that the ship, or whatever the robots came out of, found vehicles to be the earth’s dominant life form. That’s why they transform into cars.
I love watching adults transform the figures when they haven't in a while or haven't ever. So much fun....
If I'm not entirely mistaken, thermocline energy is generated by using the difference in temperature between two points, so this facility probably uses the outside air or surface water as one point and the sea floor as the other.
21:00 Don't disrespect my boy: Big Daddy.
Even as a kid I thought this death did not make sense. I was lucky because i grew up with Transformers UK the best comic ever.
Optimus just likes dying. It's gotta feel great or something.
I'd love to see a Bob Budiansky vs Simon Furman tropes. I feel like Bob started so strong and the early Furman stuff was mediocre, but things turned around very quickly! By US13 it went downhill, and by UK29 it was getting really good. I just wish when Furman wrote Regeneration One he could have fixed the inconsistencies in the Earthforce stories to make it fit into canon, but that was probably too much to ask.
@@slyrax4154 He was too busy making new inconsistencies. Regeneration One really wasn't great. It has some good moments but outweighed by the bad.
@@slyrax4154 Earthforce isn't hard to fit into canon. Indeed the stories even give us some clues.
* It has to fit after Matrix Quest and Grimlock using Nucleon to resurrect the Dinobots - so after Price of Life.
* The Magnificent Seven explicitly says Optimus has been trying to broker peace with Scorponok so Surrender hasn't happened yet.
* There is an annual story called Trigger Happy saying that there is a war between Scorponok and Shockwave. So Trigger Happy is set during Earthforce...
* The Megatron in Earthforce knows about Galvatron. So it has to be Megatron II (Archforce)! This resolves the continuity point of Megatron being bonded with Ratchet - now he can stay trapped on the Ark.
* Speaking of Galvatron, he gets imprisoned on the Ark during Earthforce. However in my placement of Earthforce there are some other prisoners on the Ark - Needlenose, Ruckus, Spinister and Windsweeper who also appear in Earthforce and Trigger Happy. Basically Needlenose and Spinister die during Earthforce so Matrix Quest has to be set before (furthering my placement...)...
* It seems logical that either Galvatron is 'collected' by Unicron from the Ark, freeing the other Con prisoners who join Megatron II or the Mayhems on Earth, or G2 breaks free and they also escape. Either or, same result.
* Shockwave is already slowly resurrecting Decepticons without Nucleon (Razorclaw for one) but needs Nucleon to resurrect everybody. This is made explicit by Furman introducing dead Decepticons on panel, wherever or however you place Earthforce.
* Nucleon is used to resurrect the Earth Autobots, so are the techniques seen in Makin' Tracks.
* This also assumes many more survive Underbase than we see on panel. I've always ascribed to this - we see Seaspray on panel afterwards, and also Ratchet, so the idea that Underbase killed ALL non-organic TFs just isn't true. My assumption is if the characters appear again in G1 or G2 without nucleon, they survived - like Smokescreen, Sideswipe or the Combaticons - and just remain background characters until they appear later. This might also explain characters like the Insecticons, Thrust and Dirge in Earthforce. Shockwave doesn't bring them back, they're already alive and were with Scorponok until Megatron II and Shockwave appear to start the Civil War.
* Speaking of Megatron II... Yeah he died in Two Megatrons but he only blew his damn head off. ☺️ Many Transformers came back after a head loss (maybe except Cyclonus 🥺 ). I don't see how he couldn't have been repaired. And by blowing off his head maybe he purged Straxus too. So now he might be deluded into thinking he is again the real Megatron and is destined to become Galvatron! This explains his sometimes slightly different character in Earthforce to the Budiansky version (although... as Wildrider would attest, not always!!!).
* Mindwipe and Triggerhappy defect in Price of Life. However unlike straight US continuity they don't join up with Shockwave and escape to go solo to appear in Living Nightlights.
This resolves all of the set up for the stories but because Earthforce never ended, how we get from that to Surrender causes continuity messes... easily explained though.
* What happens to Shockwave and Megatron II?
- Shockwave is said to have burned up in Earth's atmosphere by Mindwipe in Surrender. If we take just US comics, there's no continuity glitch, but if we take UK continuity, this makes no sense as Shockwave appears in Time Wars... where Mindwipe was also background active. So even without Earthforce, Mindwipe's accusation doesn't fit in UK continuity. The only way to explain it is one last 'event' where Megatron II and Shockwave are defeated, and Shockwave is seen burning in the atmosphere. He hides and Recruits Ravage, Starscream and the Battlechargers, and they again requisition Mindwipe and Triggerhappy as 'free agents'.
* Staracream and Soundwave are leading some Decepticons and Scorponok has some others?
- Easy. Scorponok takes them over and assimilates them. Soundwave is an opportunist and agrees to rejoin the main army whereas Starscream can't handle not being leader and goes into hiding where he's recruited by Shockwave.
* The Autobots resurrected by Nucleon are dead by the time of Unicron War?
- There is a hint in Regeneration One that some Autobots took several Nucleon treatments. Either, all of the Autobots resurrected by Nucleon were deactivated again during the fight that kills Megatron II and takes out Shockwave, or they just lose functionality and need a 'second dip' of Nucleon which is where we pick back up with Grimlock in Surrender.
This to me works elegantly. The only real stress if you put the stories before Surrender are now is Megatron alive and why do some Nucleon guys die again? The first is already answered by UK continuity and the second is easy to rationalise, even if there's no on panel confirmation.
What do you think?
That issue has always bugged the crap out of me. I 100% agree with ya, Prime's reasoning is nuts! Alternatively the IDW MTMTE line (later Lost Lite) is amazing.
James Kaiser II Marvel versions of prime is the worst version of prime.
Any James Roberts IDW Transformers is the best Transformers.
Any US Marvel Optimus Prime is the worst out of character Optimus. UK Optimus, slightly better but not by much.
Actually, if you consider the state of mobile mmorpg apps these days, this guy sitting and watching while saying he's playing is decades ahead of time.
6:00 That was a really good impression of Wheeljack!
Breaking News: A group of Autobots were killed in a drive by shooting last night. Police cars suspect it was Megatron in gun mode
The coloring wasn't lazy. The technology they used for the printing of comic books was so primitive they had to limit the colors. They couldn't even make Soundwave blue in the comic.There were a LOT of discussions about this with the writers and creators at conventions.
Your megatron voice is great.
OH MY GOD. Your entry to comic books is the same as mine! They actually published Transformers in french (I'm from Quebec) and the comic company closed as the Transformers comics were at #16. I was devestated. It wasn't until I discovered a comic shop that I was able to find and buy other Transformers comics. But that was my entry way to all the other stuff. Anyway, huge fan of your site. I love all your intros, they have me in stiches all the time. Keep up the great work!
In Northern Ontario, we could buy the US and UK comics (in English only though)
The guy didn't manslapan he was just talking about a hobby
I just wanted to say I really love your channel and have been working my way through all your comic tropes videos and I've been thoroughly entertained by every video I've seen so far. Also i don't know if you take requests or not but I would love to see a video on Gerard Way!
James Candeletta I'll keep it in mind. I have a calendar and plan most of this stuff out a good amount ahead of time but I also note any suggestions and they're all that much more likely to happen if it gets suggested. Thanks.
What is the story behind why Portland has the most Comicbook shops of any other city?
I loved these comics. Jim Lee got me into comics on X-men. Transformers and GIJoe kept me there for years. I was one of 3 kids in grade school who loved comics. We were dorks and wanted to make our own comics. The dreams of the young lol
WaTching people “transform” is hilarious. Genius idea.
Chris your Wheeljack impression is too good LOL
I remember reading this story, and that ending. REally put a bummer on my day.
About what you said at 20:35 I would say the writer was ahead of his time.
Joseph Christovich For sure.
4:12 It's only man-plaining when a guy has a passion for a hobby he has, but it would have been stunning and brave if the tables were turned XD
I love that their idea of what a videogame company should be called was "Flippy-Floppy Industries Inc."
I was finally able to watch this! I didn't get a lot of the Transformers comic book. I think I only got the first 4 issues. The cartoon seemed like the "real" Transformers continuity to me. It was the opposite for G.I. Joe. I followed the comic book, and the cartoon was just sideline. Great review! It was fun to look at this. I didn't know how they killed off Optimus Prime in the comic.
HoodedCobraCommander788 Not too heroic, huh?
HoodedCobraCommander788
They killed off Prime a couple times in the comics, they even re-enacted the movie.
@@ComicTropes I grew up with this comic and while Budiansky's run was goofy from time to time and didn't hide its existence as a toy selling commercial as well as Larry Hama's G.I. Joe did it had some cool stories. When Simon Furman also took over the US series I was a happy camper (preferably with Geoff Senior's art). To me the comics was the main TF universe since the cartoon was even sillier than the comic. The movie is still very cool and I like some of the episodes from the third season.
@@Ynffy The early TF comics never really felt "right" to me, even as a kid, but yeah, once Simon Furman was steering the ship, things improved substantially, and the TF comics became quite good, and felt like they were actually trying to tell a coherent(ish) story, where as the cartoon was just one-off things, often with some very goofy plot points (So the transformers went back in time, met King Arthur and invented gunpowder by using seagull poop, with the help of Merlin?)
Ynffy Prime was a loser in the comics. And he was dead for two years. The comics were a joke.
Who names a transformer "discharge"?, more over, who names a transformer of that size, that color and that form "discharge"?,
-I'll be right back dude I have to make a discharge in the washroom.
-I stopped you megatron, you have been discharged
-No, no the latrine attack, It took me weeks to remove the smell from the seats the last time
Nice bit of music for the intro - and i like the merge into the titles this time round, fancy!
Thanks. I'll probably keep my normal music most of the time but when I hit a new comic store I might do it like this.
What was the music?
Who knew Optimus was the original Ninja - takes his games way too serious.
Also, don't kink shame Optimus... He had a savior complex and by god he was going to sacrifice himself at every chance he got.
Kinda funny that both sides were technically trying to steal the energy from that company.... so not sure why the human guy was just okay with the whole situation.
As a Transformers and a Death’s Head fan, I’d say the Marvel UK Transformers issues featuring Death’s Head are definitely worth a read. To be fair I’d say any of Death’s Heads appearance in Transformers, Doctor Who or Marvel comics were worth reading. (Yes I know that all his appearances are technically Marvel comics but you know what I mean.)
I mean, you can pick up the Death's Head trades now easily. The character is amazing and glad he's had a resurgence recently.
"You have been hunted down by and destroyed by the hordes"
One too many by's there
"You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a smooth criminal."
The UK reprint of the second half of this issue was the first Transformers comic I ever saw. It's not bad but I suspect Optimus Prime's death kept me from diving into the series for well over a year even though here he was less of an icon - the cartoon was never much of a force on our TV channels.
It's clear what the writer's aiming at - Prime has betrayed his core principles in causing innocents to die and he has always rejected the ends justify the means philosophy. Also the Transformers themselves are generated by a computer programme in the comic and this had been shown in recent issues with the Aerialbots and Stunticons. So I can see why Prime feels the sin is in the thought rather than the outcome. But yes it does come across as dying for the sake of some computer game characters.
17:02 When he called humans "slimy" my first thought was that he was referring to sweat, since obviously metal beings don't sweat.
That part where the woman in the upper right "walks" the transformer after finishing is utterly adorable. :)
I loved transformers as a kid, but even as a kid, I could tell that the earlier issues of the comic were a bit off. The UK comic, as well as later US comics were better though, it felt like they moved away from just being glorified toy commercials, even if that never fully went away, and towards something with a bit more substance.
You argue that they are videogame characters but keep in mind these are robots who put their electric brains in the game, the characters are real to them
These are my favorite episodes lol I know it’s bad to like bad comics but I love em
I HAD THIS COMIC AS A KID OMG
Dino riders??? There have been figures etc. from a German company, 'Schleich'. They are well known for rubber-like animal figurines, a world famous dragon model in different sizes, and some other series.
Smurf figurines for example.
Whatever...
There was a series of dinosaur riding warriors and kinda farmers or so...
Leaving her to flounder in 4th place for so long is absolutely savage but also hilarious
The Transformers Marvel UK comic (issue 45) got me into comic books.
At the time of the comic there were DnD videogames available complete with character creation and role play elements. Though the visuals weren't as nice as withn this comic.
bit of a dumb question... but were transformers kind of like the Rubik's Cube for the cool kids back in the day? I never really got into them myself admittedly, but I'm now imagining Transformer transforming speed comps on the recess playgrounds
IDW 2011 More Than Meets The Eye is amazing. I've never really followed Transformers but a friend gave me the collections and it was a really good read. It's starts off with the Death Of Prime one shot, he does a lot
I have a friend that's really into the IDW stuff. I will have to try it sometime soon.
@@ComicTropes Did you ever get the chance to? It's a closed canon now so you can theoretically follow it straight through.
Hope you enjoy the James Roberts stuff!
I loved the exposition in transformers comics even back when I was a kid and they used to be popular. These and GI Joe...
This is random but there’s a guitarist with the name Tim Henson as well
@@isoldmysoulnowwheresmytale6945 Yes, I am aware. I am an illustrator, not the guitarist. I used to be the Timm Henson you got when you looked up Tim Henson or anything similar, but now I'm just an old man who draws pictures. Congrats to that kid though, I havent heard any of his music yet. Maybe I should check it out and become a die hard fan (like Art Adams would for anyone named Art Adams)
Timm Henson “old man drawing pictures” you’re selling yourself short but you should definitely give his music a try.
10:36 holy shit I had that toy when I was a kid. I think it's still there in my house somewhere.
The Simon Furman years of the original G1 comic were pretty good. Better characterization and more depth.
I don't know how you'd go about getting it nowadays but in my childhood I loved Marvel UK Transformers, especially the Geoff Senior stuff.
Deaths Head II tries to collect a bounty on Galvatron, drawn by Geoff Senior? YES PLEASE!
That was original Death's Head, not Death's Head II, yes?
@@JeremiahEcks777 You are indeed correct!
Egg on my face, yes?
Bruticus was "new", that's why he didn't know about humans
Transformers was the comic that got me into comic books too and is still my favorite comic book series. I'm currently collecting the Definitive hardback collection in the UK of every G1 inspired Transformers comic over the decades.
Sonic was my comic book introduction
Great show! FWIW: MMOs have been around since the 1980s; they were just called "MUDs (multi-user dungeons). Also, a lot of early video games, especially PC games, were based on D&D and other table-top RPGs. In that regard, a game like that based on futuristic tech is possible.
The guy would have still likely have lost his job, however, for using company resources so frivolously....
I love the Protectobots and I loved the remake of them a few years ago for the Combiner Wars series
it's nice finally seeing one of the bigger comictubers talk about transformers, and hey, at least the modern comics are much much better then the old ones (talking about both IDW runs), my recommendations are more then meets the eyes, its spinoffs and lost light, its sequel series, though you will have to read its sister series Robots in Disguise to understand a crossover event down the middle. I also recommend the Unicron series, but only if you read anything with Windblade on it and the till all are one annual and maybe Robots in Disguise and its many, many so you can get the full emotional impact. Oh but if you wanna read either one you should read The Death of Optimus Prime first
Scarlet's strike force and other related G.I.Joe comics are also pretty neat but were hit with an unfortunate cancellation due to controversial writers
Hahahaha Me Too! =:D Transformers was my childhood passion and was also my gateway into comic books! Thanks for the great stroll down memory lane! Love your content =:)
I'm STILL a huge Transformers comic book fan, especially the comics. In Canada, we had access to the US and UK run-I still have my collection. I know people bash on this storyline, but to this day, this story of the videogame, and the subsequent insanity of Megatron after Prime's death are among my favourite
Well, Optimus won the game but chose death due to the, ahem...NPCs that were lost.
This was the point that Marvel TF go down in quality, only come back with Furman. But I suggest you do a video about Transformers #1. Is a masterclass on how make things compact, telling a origin story, war, going to earth, war again, meeting humans. And showing all the first G1 characters.
Hope you picked up some good greenbud while you were here in P-Town. And hit Case Study for some terrific java. Oh, and Du's grill. Damn, I know what I'm doing today. I've been watching your videos lately and I don't even read comics. Yet. Good stuff. I love seeing the old drawings close up. I'm not going to see them anywhere else. Keep up the great work. Thanks! 👍
It kinda makes sense for him to be a gun there, They're evil robots that have enemies so being on guard while the other drives makes sense to me.
What a contrast with the GI Joe comics of the same era.
I though i knew most of this early transformers stuff, but i missed this completely.
He needed to be a gun, because it was easier to transport him that way.
I always thought the idea of Megatron just being a gun nonsense especially for a leader
For IDW Transformers comics, I would start with the acclaimed Last Stand of the Wreckers, a story about a rogue Decepticon general (who is also an unstoppable super soldier) taking over an Autobot prison, forcing both Autobots and Decepticons to basically fight for his own depraved amusement. Eventually the Autobots send in what is essentially their kill squad (the titular Wreckers) to take this guy out before the secrets of the prison can be revealed. We see that there are shades of gray during wartime, as one particular Autobot (and former Wrecker) is held at this prison.
Before jumping into the real gem of IDW's TF comics (More Than Meets the Eye), there was also a brief storyarc called "Chaos Theory" that digs deep into the backgrounds of Optimus and Megatron and the politics of Cybertron that led to the war and Megatron's fall from poetic, charismatic writer to violent, charismatic leader. townsquare.media/site/622/files/2015/07/TF16i.jpg
Chaos Theory plants the seeds that lead directly into the series More Than Meets the Eye, taking place after the war where Megatron is presumed dead and Optimus steps down because he feels that his leadership would cause unnecessary tensions with the surviving Decepticons, and Optimus feels that he's the last person in the universe they would want to follow as their race attempts to rebuild itself and reform their society in a post-war social environment. But the meat of the series is about the quest of Rodimus and his crew of the ship called the Lost Light (the series would eventually be renamed Lost Light) as they search for the Knights of Cybertron. But really, that quest is just background noise as the book is really about the hearttbreaking, hilarious, and action packed adventures the crew gets into along the way. This series explored the religions of the Transformers, their births and deaths, and just generally how a society of beings whose culture revolves around their robotic bodies and changing shape would function over the millennia. And when Megatron does resurface and eventually joins the crew as Co-Captain, it makes for one of the best character redemption storylines I can remember seeing in recent memory. imgur.com/gallery/Rq78w
I really want to start off reading IDW comics with Optimus Prime as the main protagonist. Which comic should I start on?
I see a lot of people suggest to start with MTMTE or RID but they don’t have Optimus Prime
Most TF series are about the full teams rather than any one specific character as the main protagonist, and the spotlight is spread around pretty evenly for everyone. But there are definitely certain storylines and issues that feature Optimus as the main character, and he was consistently a major player in *most* stories in the IDW continuity before RiD and MTMTE began their runs. If that sounds alright and you're in it for the long run, the "Infiltration" storyline was the original intended starting point for new readers when IDW first began their TF comics. "Infiltration" is mainly about setting the stage and building up to Optimus finally appearing at the very end, but Optimus is regularly around from that point onward in stories like "Stormbringer" and "Escalation."
If you don't want to start from the beginning like that and would rather pick and choose specific stories and issues, the two-part story called "Chaos Theory" was in issues #22 and 23 of the 2010-2011 TF series before RiD and MTMTE started. I'm pretty sure it's still available collected with some other issues in trade paperback Volume 5 of that 2010-2011 run, but those two issues can be read on their own. The story is just a great extended conversation/flashback between Optimus and Megatron. IDW would also put out one-shot "Spotlight" issues for certain characters, just focusing on them in a particular situation, and both Optimus and Orion Pax had Spotlight issues over the years. And right before MTMTE or RiD began there was a "Death of Optimus Prime" one-shot issue about how Optimus is dealing with life on Cybertron now that they've won the war and are about to begin rebuilding their society. It's a pretty good character piece for him. There was also later a storyarc called "Shadowplay" in issues #9-11 of MTMTE that's told in a flashback to pre-war Cybertron and featured Orion Pax as the main driving force of the plot. That was great and showed Pax as a badass force of heroic inspiration even before war broke out, but I don't know how it would be received by a reader without having the full context behind the characters who are actually having the flashback and telling the story about Optimus/Orion Pax: i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/848/564/4f3.png
Optimus would later get his own series that's still pretty recent (just titled "Transformers: Optimus Prime"), but I haven't read it or heard anything about it as far as its quality. I've heard that it shows Optimus having to deal with a lot of moral ambiguity and having to make really shady decisions that don't always seem very heroic. Depending on how well that's written, I think it sounds like it could be pretty good, and I know that they were building up to the reveal of Unicron for the first time in IDW continuity. I also don't know how new-reader friendly that series is, but it *might* be exactly what you're looking for.
I tried to be as specific as I could if you wanted to search Comixology for individual issues or storylines. Everything I've listed should be there.
The Puppy Mafia ok thanks! I am always so used to Optimus Prime being in the Transformers stories because without him, I wouldn’t really like the Transformers in general.
You can look in the local library for the IDW comic "all hail Megatron"
The theme song in this episode is goddamn fantastic.
How dare you besmirch the great and noble name of the DinoRiders! ;) The tiny comic books that came with the DinoRiders toys were my personal introduction to comic books.
I agree about how daunting it is trying to jump into the IDW line of Transformers. But I would recommend Transformers: All Hail Megatron. It starts with a good premise. The Decepticons won and no one is there to stop them from taking over Earth.
I remember I had one of the big ones. One was made up of construction vehicles and they were all in yellow and green I think.
I also had a big Voltron one.
This was decades ago so, ...damn, I'm old.
19:12 and this is where The Wachowskis came up with The Matrix.....
Looking back at what our technology was at the time and how it was reflected in media is always a funny thing. Transformers has become iconic. I own issue #25 btw haha.
The whole transforming scene was fun to watch
Transformers 1-3 we're the first comics I owned. Then, I got back into comics with Peter David's run on the Hulk but also TF issues 41-42
I really loved the Transformers when I was a kid. Looking back, I realize that virtually nothing about the Transformers makes any sense. The toys were all really great, but in retrospect, it's pretty obvious that they had a whole bunch of toys that they needed a story for, and they were not all that concerned about whether or not the stories made sense. And based on their enduring popularity, it apparently did not matter. 🙂
I was remembering this issue yesterday. Coincidence it got into my recomended
Not a coincidence. Google knows what you're thinking.
@@ScottPigman Damn brain chip
Some of the ideas of British TF comics are very good, while some others are terrible.
So I have mixed feelings about it
But the whole idea that Teletran thought the lifeforms of the planet where mechanical vehicles, is very good. Also explains the dinobots arc, which is also cool.
But in stories like this one you just brought to our attention, they made the worse possible choices.
Best Megatron impersonation ever. 😂
Yeah, the cartoon blows the comic out of the water no question.
Sir Needlemouse Cartoon prime was better then comic book prime.
Great video. Great voice work. Sounds like them. I guess we were smarter when we were kids.
I transformed a transformer!
And I won!
"I CAN'T PLAY DOOM AAAAAAHHH" - Optimus Prime
I collected a few Transformers as a kid, the only big ones being Starscream and Swoop, the rest were littler ones I could get for a couple bucks at the dept. store. Mt dad never showed any interest in this Transformer nonsense until he was in a nursing home, shortly before his death, He asked for my Transformers as something to keep his hands and mind busy. I delivered them in a brown paper bag. My dad has been gone over 20 years, and I haven't had the heart to open that sack since.
man that part with the toys went on a long time
20:57 I would never have believed those were real names if you hadn’t shown them
Don't know why you're so upset about the video game. The writer was clearly ahead of his time. The concept of the game seems like a virtual reality RPG, sort of like what's portrayed in animes like SAO...