Revisitation 96: The Iron Man.

29/10/2022

This week, it's all about Ironhide!

Or really, more about Prime. And Prowl.

But, either way, it's the first issue of the Ironhide Miniseries!

6 Comments

Snowkatt

31/10/2022 04:15:58 pm

I never read this.
Not back in the day, not now either.
A mini series written by a writer that can't write Transformers. Drawn by an artist I don't care for and starring a character I don't particularly like ?

Yes that be a miss for me.
From the sound of it its horribly protracted and stilted in every way possible.
So in other words like all the other Costa stuff, and I missed nothing by skipping it.

Say what you will about Heart Of Darkness , and there will be a lot ti say about it.
But it's not boring, drawn out, or listless.

Llama God

3/11/2022 11:29:22 pm

The biggest problem that I have with this miniseries is that it exists at all, so soon after the titular character was killed off. As you say, death isn't ever really a particular obstacle for Transformers, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting to see ol' Red again, I just didn't expect it to be this soon. And that it is this soon takes away the impact of his death in the ongoing, and also sours me on the ongoing even more so as a consequence. So not off to a good start before even opening the cover.

And opening the cover is, indeed, tedious and pointless. Yet more wasted page count from Costa. You really do have to wonder how he's getting away with it. Unless this is editorial's idea of "cinematic". Whatever the case, it doesn't engage.

The flashback sequences are indeed fun, to an extent. Or at least in comparison to a lot of the stuff we've had in the ongoing. And going back to the earlier days of the war is always interesting. But it's also quite slight and inconsequential, and I will once again forget that I've ever read it once I finish typing this feedback. Not deliberately, but just because that's how little impact it makes.

The main thing of note to me about this whole issue is the body that Coller's given to Prime. What's interesting here is that he now has his Stormbringer body, or one close to that design, in contrast to the Orion Pax body that Coller gave him in Spotlight: Blurr. What's nice about this design though is that he has the same blue "cab" kibble on his back here as the Pax model had, which suggests that that Pax was meant to grow into this Prime at some point - presumably upon taking the Matrix. Instead we will find out at some point that Pax has pretty much always had that Stormbringer body, but Blurr was just an oddity. Which is a shame, because it's a nice bit of design.

But aside from that curio, there's really not a lot to recommend this on. But we'll see how the rest of it pans out... although the fact I can't remember the actual story beats doesn't bode well.

LiamKav

15/11/2022 03:41:52 pm

Is this the first time we see the Stormbringer design in the past? I had thought it was Chaos Theory but this definitely predates that.

It looks like it's in the smae colour scheme it has in Chaos Theory, which is different than the Stormbringer colour scheme and which means I might have to fork out to get that recolour that MMC have put out, dammit.

(I've also read this and have literally no memories of it, good or bad. Whereas, like Snowkatt says, I DEFINITELY remember HoD.)

Cradok

7/11/2022 12:55:20 pm

One immensely consequential thing this issue does is that it's the first place that uses the 4 million year timescale for the war. Previously, the furthest date we have for it was about 600,000 years, from SL Shockwave.

JeremiahEcks

28/10/2025 01:59:24 pm

Come on Stuart, Windcharger has done loads in previous TF stories!

He and Ravage had starring roles in Raiders of the Lost Ark!
He made a lab coat look stylish in the MtmtE episodes of the original G1 cartoon!
He allowed the Autobots to 'merge' to pretend to be Menasor in Masquerade!
And... err... he died in the Movie.

But I mean, that's loads for Windcharger! More than say Trailbreaker ever got until IDW remembered who he was. 😄

JeremiahEcks

30/10/2025 08:44:06 am

Here's a question. Why was the death of Ironhide retconned so quickly?

Was it:
a) Always the intent (killing him in TF #1 would lead to this series)
b) It was a panic response to bad fan reaction
c) Costa or editorial changed their mind after legit killing Ironhide
d) Hasbro were involved directly somehow ('to sell toys')

I'm guessing the answer is b or d but either way this series has always felt awkward for me. Yeah, bad idea to kill Ironhide off like how they did, but worse idea to have it have no gravitas and bring it back.

For comics to be truly entertaining again and for a death to 'matter', it has to stick. Say what one will about James Roberts' bloodthirstiness and mean-spirited axing of anybody, any time, but every one of them *matters* because he won't cheat and bring them back in 20 issues or so.

Even R****d gets a pass because the original death stands and there's consequences of how they get around bringing him back. It isn't just 'oh he's back and all is just as it was.'

Comics are just bad sometimes. Comic Book Death might be A Thing but so are low sales and fan intolerance.

Revisitation 96: The Iron Man.

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