Titans Return (well, Headmasters Return but I guess Hasbro doesn’t have that trademark anymore0 to the world of Transformers with the redux of the tiniest titanium twink, Rewind!

Originally just one of Blaster’s cassette-bots but given new relevance as once half of the Lost Light’s premiere gay-married trouble magnets, Rewind’s release – in the same line as his husband, Chromedome – is yet another instance of Hasbro taking cues from IDW’s stellar comic series, More Than Meets The Eye.

The packaging is exactly the same it was for Combiner Wars but with this year’s branding. Moving on!

The cassette-bot of 1986 gets a massive upgrade for 2016, now transforming into a touch screen MP3 player… that has a cassette themed background so it makes him look like a walkman. Still, you can plug a pair of headphones into him and he can still be loaded into the Voyager scale Blaster’s chest like a cassette… Which doesn’t make a lick of sense other than THEY DID IT IN THE 80’S!

I’m really thankful that the Combiner Wars mandate of Legends scale figures being triple-changers persists because while this Space Tank mode is as basic as they come, it does add some more value to this entry level Transformer. The transformation between all three modes is so basic yet intuitive that you shouldn’t even have to unfold the instructions.

Rewind in robot mode stands about 3½ inches tall and, barring the bulky forearm kibble, is a dead ringer for his IDW design, even down to the camera sculpted to the side of his tremendous head sculpt that pays homage to Alex Milne’s comic design.

Poseability-wise, he’s got a tremendous range of movement thanks to the hinge and ball joints; allowing for all manner of cool action poses, balancing precariously, or even cute poses when his husband finally shows up.

Overall, for an RRP of £11.99, it’s hard for me to recommend Rewind simply as a toy because when I first started doing reviews five years ago, that would be the price of a Deluxe scale figure but as a massive More Than Meets The Eye fan, I had to get him and he’ll be a permanent fixture on my desk.

Nightbeat has been a firm favourite of mine since childhood when I read the Marvel stories The Big Shutdown! and Bird of Prey. While other Transformers were just soldiers, this Autobot was a detective first and foremost and I really latched onto the idea. In the more recent IDW run, this characterisation was built upon and now he’s a member of the Lost Light crew in the ongoing title More Than Meets The Eye. Some of the more recent offerings from Hasbro’s Generations line of figures has focused on IDW characters and this is no exception so let’s take a look at Transformers Generations: Nightbeat. (Massive shout-out to my buddy Dawfydd Kelly selling me one!)

The American releases of this sub-line all come with reprints of IDW storylines and Nightbeat’s wave (and maybe a couple others) all feature parts of the recent Dark Cybertron storyline. Now there’s a few problems with this. Firstly is the cover, featuring Nightbeat rendered in the body of the 2010 Jazz toy. Early preorders also showed the figure like this but this is obviously not the toy we got. Secondly, the issue that comes with Nightbeat BARELY features him!  Dark Cybertron being pretty awful artwise is bad enough, but they didn’t even pick a good issue to showcase the character.

Nightbeat, as he was released, is using the recent Bumblebee body and it looks pretty good on him. The vehicle form is chunky and looks like the kind of muscle car a hard-boiled detective might drive. His paint scheme is a slavish homage to his G1 roots, even down to the flame deco on his doors. The paint is crisp and clean, picking out some great details in silver and yellow.

His dual blasters can plug into the rear of his vehicle mode as both front-facing weapons or maybe even some Star Trek nacelles!

Unfortunately, Nightbeat’s robot mode chest doesn’t sit flush and really hampers the rolling ability of his car form.

Transformation is incredibly simplistic but is also intuitive enough to not feel boring. There’s some clipping issues that spring up when going from robot-to-vehicle but nothing major.

The robot mode is pretty cool. It has good proportions and casts a good silhouette but there’s some unsightly streaks in his metallic blue plastic that you should be aware of. His head sculpt is spot on but it feels a tad small. only swivels side-to-side and his red visor appears to have been chipped, which REALLY damages him for me.

‘Beat can pull off an okay assortment of poses but nothing spectacular. His shoulders are especially bad, because they move along with the rest of the arm, leaving a lot of poses out of the question.

Nightbeat’s forearms have a light wash applied to them, resulting in some pretty nice panel-lining which was a nice surprise. The dual blasters can be combined for one big gun, two seperate guns or pegged into the ports under Nightbeat’s arms for two underslung “claws”.

Compared to the RTS Jazz mold that he was intended to be, Nightbeat comes off all the lesser. While his vehicle mode looks fantastic, the robot mode suffers from the lack of articulation and build quality that the Jazz body had and the Bumblebee body just feels… bad. It looks closer to the Nightbeat we know but it suffers from bad articulation.

Ultimately, am I happy with this figure? Little bit yes and a lot more no. Am I happy to have a new Nightbeat for my Lost Light shelf? Yes, I am. Am I happy that his sub-par articulation and numerous QC issues will mean that he’ll do nothing but stand in line? HELL NO.

I’m really disappointed with how this figure turned out and can’t recommend it and that really sucks to say.

Welcome to *TOTALLY SPOILED*  a new section here on The Web Site Of Doom where I will be totally spoiling anything from comic books to TV shows, games and more. To kick things off we are starting with the  new Star Trek Countdown series. I will be giving a complete synopsis’ of the IDW comic book series Written by Mike Johnson that will be leading up to the new Star Trek movie ‘Into Darkness’! Be prepared for full on spoilers as this will be geared towards those that don’t have the time, money, or other means to read the series, but want to know the background events that lead us from the first movie into the next. Set your phasers on stun and lets warp right into this!

Countdown to Darkness #1

    Spock dreams of logic. He dreams of beaming down to Vulcan. He dreams of going into the Katric Ark to save the Vulcan elders. He dreams they beam off the planets surface. All of them. He dreams his mother thanks him aboard the Enterprise. As she does he feels a surge of emotion, and with that emotion comes the end of logic. The ship begins to fall apart and his mother curses him for dooming them all pushing him out the now broken window. Just as the ship explodes, he awakens.

    Spock sits on the edge of his bed for several moments as the buzzer for his door rings before he finally says ‘Enter.’ Uhura comes in the room and tries to console him, but Spock brushes off the dreams and her concerns and says he’s going to start his shift early. She says she will join him since that’s the only time she gets to see him anymore. Meanwhile in the Captain’s Quarters, Kirk has a conversation with the log about not really having any friends on the ship since everyone treats him as the Captain.

   Back up on the bridge the ship pulls up to a planet named Phaedus, a class M planet. 5 years prior Phaedus scanned and the population was determined to be in a developmental stage similar to that of the Roman Empire on Earth. Kirk is disappointed to learn that this will be a typical ‘scan and dash’ and tries to convince Spock to go to the surface just as Chekov picks up a high energy field on the planet. What ever it is seems to knock out communications and the transporters. After much deliberation it is decided that Kirk, Spock, and Sulu will take a shuttle to investigate. (As per “Starfleet regulations” of sorts you have to take a red shirt with you on away missions. In this case that red shirt is Mr. Hendroff, the big dude that kicked Kirks butt back in the bar on the first movie.) They all go despite Uhura’s objections. Everything goes fine until they are shot down. The shuttle gets severely damaged and Sulu is left with a concussion. Hendroff stays behind to care for Sulu as Spock and Jim go explore. They don’t get far before they are stopped by an army of strange creatures with phasers.

   One of them also has a universal translator and asks the crew to identify themselves. After Kirk gives his name and rank he is interrupted in his demand to know where they got the phasers and translator by a man telling him to calm down.

“I gave them their weapons, and the tricorder. My name is Robert April…former Captain of a ship called Enterprise.”

To Be Continued…

(Click here to read part 2!)

  If you liked this and want to know more about what Kirk and the crew have been up to since the last movie (including adventures that happened in Star Trek The Original Series but with the twist of the new timeline) head on over to the Message Board of Doom where we will be taking a look at the ongoing comic series one issue at a time, and you can tell us about your thoughts, hopes, and half baked ideas on the new timeline and what it means to the Star Trek Universe in general.

Oh, Roberts! You and your funny names with a hidden meaning!

Vol. 2 collects the stories ’Life after the Big Bang’, ’Interiors’ and ’Scavengers’. This volume opens up on Delphi, a medical facility on the edges of DJD territory and with First Aid, a demoted doctor with a huge problem; Delphi has succumb to plague. The Lost Light shows up, after Ratchet receives a special encoded message from the facility. Ratchet goes down to the planet with Pipes and Drift to find out what’s going on, only to become embroiled in the horrifying truth of the facility and its chief medical officer, Pharma. The patients are dying at an alarming rate thanks to the Red Rust virus, a condition that causes every vital fluid in a Cybertronians body seep out. As it turns out, Pharma is the root cause of the patients deaths and did so to provide a steady stream of transformation cogs to the leader of the DJD in order to keep Delphi safe from attack.

Ratchet is tired of your shit, Pharma!

Throughout all this, we’ve had wonderful character moments from Ratchet; whose been on the hunt for his successor since the last volume, Pipes; who is on his first alien planet and becomes an instant bad luck magnet, and Drift is frightened to even be there because of his status as an ex-Decepticon. Throughout the first story, we’re told more and more about the DJD, the Decepticon Justice Division. They’re essentially the Spanish Inquisition for the Decepticons but far more sadistic; hunting down deserters, traitors and anyone who so much as questions the Decepticon cause in delightfully creative ways, so Drift is rightfully worried. But more on them later. ‘Life after the Big Bang’ brings together a lot of elements first referenced in Bullets and Wreckers, giving them a spotlight in this story and brings a lot of new characters aboard the Lost Light including the doctors, patients and ex-warden of Garrus-9, Fortress Maximus.

“You check in, but you don’t check out!”

‘Interiors’ focuses on Fort Max as he suffers through his experiences during Last Stand of The Wreckers at the hands of Overlord and is an interesting study of PTSD, something you don’t associate with giant robots. Rung, ships psychologist and karmic whipping boy, tries to help Fort Max deal with all his problems but to no avail as he goes on a shooting spree and locks himself in Rung’s office with Rung and the worst possible person he could, Whirl. Tensions run high as the rest of the crew try to resolve the situation, all the while Rung is trying to talk Max down. Tempers flare, the situation goes from bad to worse and Rung is seemingly killed. As the crew mourns, Red Alert follows up on something he spoke to Rung about in an earlier issue. There is a voice coming from beneath the cell that held the Sparkeater in the last issue, but there is nothing there. The schematics show that the cell is the lowest point on the ship with nothing but space outside it. But Red Alert, possessing both enhanced audio receptors and a paranoid personality, keeps digging (literally) until he breaks through. And through the crack, where by all rights there should only be empty space, he finds a hidden chamber, in which, immobilized, his weapons systems removed, begging to be killed…

“And do not — I repeat do not — look in the basement.”

…hangs Overlord.

Thankfully, Rung’s life is saved, though he remains on spark support without a head for a few issues. Red Alert is alone with no-one to trust with the information he discovered, he leaves it with Rung, hoping it would be safe. Until he is observed by a diagnostic drone and a mysterious figure appears later to steal the data.

“No one expects the SPANISH INQUISITION!”

Meanwhile, we meet the DJD who are dispatching Black Shadow, a Phase-Sixer, who is on the same level as Overlord in terms of raw killing potential. He’s pretty much here to show how powerful the DJD are and how effective they are at their jobs. All of them are some manner of torture device or a means to hunt ‘Cons apart from their mysterious leader Tarn, who likes music (maybe something to do with Skids?), quoting the works of Megatron and literally talking his quarry to death. That’s his special talent, he can modulate his voice in such a way as to make a bot’s spark explode! That’s badass and full of creepy potential, which we see some of here. They soon go to their next target and we meet up with the Scavengers! The Scavengers are a right rag-tag bunch of misfits, lost and without purpose since the Decepticons lost the war. The discover the DJD’s next target, Fulcrum, and soon a Worldsweeper ship with some truly strange goings-on aboard.

“RUN AWAY!”

Once the DJD arrive, the Scavengers do what good Wombles do; they make good use of the things that they find, including the armaments of the Worldsweeper and the one other ‘bot they find onboard: Grimlock. Grimlock went missing during the event of Wreckers, after being driven mad by Overlord and this is the first time we’ve seen him since and to say he’s broken would be an understatement. The Scavengers are outgunned and outclassed by the DJD but it’s only the fortune of Overlord’s discovery on the Lost Light that earns the Scavengers a reprieve as the DJD set off in search of his signal. The Scavengers, badly beaten and now lacking a member of their crew opt to take Grimlock with them in the hopes of earning favour with whoever won the war back on Cybertron. The Scavengers is an entertaining and fun introduction to a whole host of new characters that we’ll be seeing more of in the future, whether it’s the lovable Scavengers or more of the new menace; the Decepticon Justice Division.

The Noblest of Suicide Bombers

18 months later, a mysterious figure known as the Necrobot comes to the body of the fallen Scavenger Flywheels and notes his death, alongside those of Ultra Magnus, Drift and Chromedome. Meaning that sometime between now and 18 months in the future, some (if not all) the crew of the Lost Light will die and that’s how this volume ends, with the promise of much more adventure and death!

When I reviewed the first volume of MTMTE, I made reference to the bonus material and unfortunately, this volume is sorely lacking in bonus materials, only including covers and two “Meet the Crew” pages, one for the main crew, one for the Scavengers. This volume will jumps into the journey the crew is undertaking and builds on what Roberts’ has done before and it’s my favourite thus far. Some have criticised the book because it’s not making all that much out of it’s original premise but this is a high concept book, it’s like Farscape. The overall goal is the same as what it was at the start but its the journey and the characters and the crazy world they inhabit which is the major draw of this series and it is always the title I look forward to reading month to month. James Roberts builds characters and worlds that feel real and wonderful but always terrifying and it’s all complimented by the amazing art of Alex Milne, Nick Roche and Josh Burcham.
More Than Meets The Eye Vol. 1 & 2 are available through all good book retailers.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts, be sure to leave them below and I’ll be sure to get to them before the Necrobot does!

Part 2

The Comics

 Last time I talked about how everything went so wrong.  Now I’m here to regale you about how everything began to go so right.

It’s fu­­nny that so many people know of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but many of those same people have no idea it started out as an independent, black-and-white comic three years before the beloved cartoon series ever started.  Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still remains the most successful independent comic of all time, but as I said in the previous article it went generally unnoticed for years, in the shadow of it’s more popular counterpart.  The most recent TMNT comic was written and self-published by TMNT co-creator Peter Laird himself and never made any headlines.  The series was still in production when Nickelodeon’s buyout of the franchise occurred, and is currently in hiatus.  It’s not really known if the series will ever continue, as Laird still maintains the right to produce up to 18 Ninja Turtle comics a year if he wants to.

When it was announced Nick bought the Turtles franchise, there was general fear that they would run it into the ground, or worse, just let it sit on the shelf and never touch it again.  But to the relief of the fandom, they had a clear plan in mind from the start.  They wouldn’t simply be doing a new cartoon, but they were going to push the Turtles back into the public eye through all different mediums.  And just like back in 1984, it all began with a comic book.

They’re back!

A New Home

Back in April 2011, it was announced that IDW Publishing had acquired the rights to publish a brand new TMNT comic book series.   IDW was known for producing comics based off licensed material such as G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Godzilla, and Transformers.  Now, IDW is nowhere near Marvel or DC in terms of popularity, but neither can they be considered really, independent.  They’re certainly one of the more prominent secondary publishers, much bigger then Mirage Studios and much better equipped for marketing.  Let’s put it this way, with IDW you didn’t have to print and fill-out a mail order form to get your comics every month and unlike before, people would actually know a TMNT comic existed.

The new comic wouldn’t follow the continuity previously established by Mirage, (which now saw the Turtles in their 30’s, Raphael mutated into a hulking Gamera-looking Turtle monster, Master Splinter dead, April revealed to be a drawing brought to life, and other really weird stuff), but instead be a complete reboot of the franchise, taking elements from the original Mirage comics, the popular 80’s/90’s cartoon, and pretty much every incarnation of the Turtles and finding a way to spin it into something totally new yet completely familiar.  At the helm, senior staff writer for IDW Tom Waltz, whose previous work for the studio included Silent Hill and Ghostbusters.  Joining him in writing dutties, in a welcome surprise to every TMNT fan out there, was TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, who left the franchise in the early 2000’s to focus solely on the comic magazine Heavy Metal, which he’s the owner of.   Having Eastman back on board was a welcoming sign for longtime fans, who’s last contribution to the franchise was 1996’s stand alone, hyper-violent Raphael and Casey Jones story, “Bodycount”.  Throw in Dan Duncan on art duty and you’ve got the team that gave TMNT fans what they’ve been waiting years for.

The first issue of the new comic dropped on August 24^th 2011.  Right away we’re treated to a familiar scene; the Turtles are cornered in an alley by some thugs, just like in the first issue of the original comic.  But unlike the comic, one of the Turtles, Raphael, is missing from the battle, and one of the thugs is a mutant alley cat named Old Hob, who seems to have some unknown history with the Turtles and Splinter.  We’re thrown right into the middle of a much larger story, with only teases of what came before, saving them for future reveals.  Sounds confusing, but it’s far from it.  Everything here is familiar to longtime fans, all while giving them a taste of all the new twists and turns ahead.  In the first issue alone we’re introduced to most of the major players, a mixture of old and new characters; The Turtles, Master Splinter, Casey Jones, April O’Neil, Old Hob, Baxter Stockman, and even Krang (yes, THAT Krang), all remaining for the most part intact but with updates, some minor and some extreme.  The first four deal with the Turtles searching for their missing brother Raphael, all while set up the new universe and building character dynamics.  Issue five finally reveals the radical new origin, which up until then we had only seen bits and pieces of through flashback…

Let me tell you a story…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one…Hamato Yoshi, master ninja and former member of the Foot Clan, is murdered, alongside his wife Tang Shen, by Oroku Saki, a.k.a The Shredder, in revenge for the accidental death of his brother.  His pet rat Splinter is left to wander the streets until he happens upon a startling event.  A truck carrying radioactive ooze swerves to avoid a blind man crossing the street, and the process a canister of the ooze flies off the truck and knocks a glass bowl of four baby turtles out of the hand of a young boy and washes alongside them down the sewers.  Splinter follows and sees the canister has shattered and the baby turtles are covered in the strange mutagen.  Splinter cleans them off, getting covered in the mutagen himself, and over a period of time, the five begin to mutate to become more human like in size and intelligence.  Teaching them the secrets of ninjitsu he learned from mimicking Yoshi in his cage, Splinter names his new sons after great Renaissance artists and raises them to become the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

That’s the original origin from the Mirage comics we’re all familiar with in some form or another.  In order for this reboot to really stand on its own and be a fresh new start, the origin had to be revamped. Waltz and Eastman gave us a new origin that was even crazier than the last, but at the same time made a lot more sense and helped fill those gaps in logic the original glossed over.

WARNING: THIS IS WHERE I GET INTO SOME HEAVY SPOILERS, SO IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE COMICS, STOP READING THIS NOW AND GO PICK THEM UP YOU NUT!

In the new story, we begin in Feudal era Japan with a man named Hamato Yoshi, elite ninja of the Foot Clan, one of the strongest and most feared ninja clans in Japan, led by Oroku Saki.  Saki sought to establish the Foot Clan as a dominate super power by killing an entire village of people.  Disgusted, Yoshi publically called out Saki and stormed off, cutting his ties with the Foot Clan.  Enraged by Yoshi’s disrespect, Saki put a hit out on him and his entire family.  That night, Foot ninjas attacked Yoshi’s home.  Yoshi fought and slayed them, but not before they had killed his wife, Tang Shen.  With her dying breath, Shen begged Yoshi to take their four young sons and flee, to which Yoshi complied.  For years they had lived in relative secrecy and peace, but Saki, now going by The Shredder, hunted them down, and had them all executed, with Yoshi with his last breath vowing revenge, against Shredder.

New character – Old Hob

Over a century later, a young college student named April O’Neil is in the midst of an internship at the Stockgen Research Facility, run by Baxter Stockman.  Unbeknownst to April, Stockgen’s experiments in bio-engineering meat are really a front for developing genetic and neurological weaponry for the mysterious General Kraang, reveled to be the last of a race of alien brain-like creatures called Utroms, who is waging a war in Dimension X.  One night, while alone in the lab, April is attacked by two unknown, but familiar looking ninjas, who were there to steal the experimental mutagen, as well as the four experimental test turtles.  April is saved, when the lab rat Splinter, sensing an aura of goodness around her, triggers the fire alarm which alerts security and forces the ninjas to flee, with Splinter in pursuit of the captive turtles, to whom he feels a strong, almost fatherly, connection to.  Splinter manages to free the Turtles from the ninjas, and they, along with the canister of stolen mutagen, fall into the alleyway below, and are exposed to the radioactive ooze.  It’s then that they are attacked by an alley cat.  Splinter fights it off, even scratching out one of its eyes, but it runs off with one of the Turtles in tow.  In a short period of time, the mutagen takes effect and Splinter and the Turtles are mutated to human-like form, and it becomes evident to Splinter that he is the reincarnation of Hamato Yoshi and the turtles are that of his sons. 

Uh guys, he’s behind you

Like I said, crazier, but makes more sense.  This new origin ties in many of the major characters and helps to make sense of some of the more head scratching bits of the Turtles mythology, like how Splinter knows so much about ninjitsu, and how the Turtles were able to learn in so quickly and seamlessly given their physiology.  When I first read it I was blown away by how effective it is and how deeply it’s rooted in past Turtles lore.  There are elements of both the comic and cartoons, but it’s not forced, rather the long hoped for hybrid of both incarnations.

Who’s Who

Like I said before, the characters are all familiar.  Leonardo is still the stoic leader, but this time is a more spiritual and a lot more commanding.  He’s still the most disciplined and remains close to Splinter, and having him be the only one of the Turtles with memories, albeit faint, of their past life was a great way to reinforce that.  Donatello, like always is the brains of the bunch, with an added twist of having his more logical and rational thinking frequently coming into conflict with Splinter and Leo’s spirituality, but nonetheless he remains close to both.  Michelangelo isn’t quite the hyperactive slacker he was in the cartoons, rather this time serving as the peacekeeper of the team, his youthful innocence helping to calm tensions between his brothers.  As of the time of this writing, he’s been the Turtle that hasn’t received much development, but that will no doubt change soon.  Raphael is still the hot-tempered loner, but this time his justified seeing as how prior to the start of the series, he had been separated from his family for over a year, giving him the feeling of an outsider.  He’s also the Turtle with the strongest sense of justice, often rushing in head first to right any wrong doings he happens upon, a trait he shares with his best friend Casey Jones, who in this series is the Turtles first human friend (post-mutation).  Casey in this new universe is younger, and is way more mellow than he’s been in the past, at times even being the voice of reason amongst the group.  He’s in college thanks to hockey scholarship that’s in jeopardy due to his suffering academics.  He’s the constant victim of physical abuse from his alcoholic father, and vents his frustration through his vigilante activity at night.  And yes, he still wears the hockey mask.  Master Splinter has seen some new elements to his history, his comic and cartoon origins being blended into one.  This Splinter is less frail and more defensive of his family, having lost them before.  We also learn of his past issues with controlling his anger, something that he feels indirectly caused the death of Tang Shen and his sons.  This change really makes his character more three-dimensional, transforming him from a Yoda-like all knowing mentor, to a character who’s made mistakes and has learned from them, and imparts those morals onto his sons so they don’t suffer like he has.  April O’Neil has pretty much remained the same as she was in the original comics and 2003 cartoon; she’s intelligent, compassionate, resourceful, and loyal.  Having her be the one to name the Turtles was a nice little touch, too.

But where would are heroes be without the villains?  Shredder is back, and more threating than ever.  He’s ruthless, conniving, and vindictive.  He still retains the blood feud with Yoshi, but here it feels a lot more personal.  There’s still a lot more left to be reveled with the character, so let’s look at the other main villain of the comic…Krang.  Save for his appearance in the 2009 movie “Turtles Forever’, hadn’t been used since the 80’s/90’s cartoon.  For the new series he’s been given a more menacing and deadly update, even combining his backstory with that of longtime TMNT characters The Utroms, and like them were indirectly responsible for the Turtles mutations.   Old Hob is a new character to TMNT mythology.  A mutant alley cat with a thug’s attitude, he serves as more a recurring nuisance to the Turtles rather than a looming threat like Shredder and Krang.  Another new character is Allopex, a mutant artic fox that serves Shredder and the Foot Clan, and has a rivalry with Raphael.  Her origin remains largely unrevealed as of yet.

Other characters from past TMNT incarnations have made appearance in both major in minor roles.  Karai and The Fugitoid from the original Mirage comics, Slash and General Tragg, from the original cartoon and Archie Comics, Angel and Silver Sentry from the 2003 series, and even beloved fan favorites Bebop and Rocksteady (unmutated…so far).  This new series doesn’t seem to be shying away from any piece of the TMNT franchise, (except for Next Mutation of course), and that opens it up to endless possibilities and chances to see more past characters used like Leatherhead, the Triceratons, Hun, Lord Dregg, Agent Bishop, Tokka and Rahzar, Renet, Mondo Geko, the list goes on.  Of course, they shouldn’t be discouraged from coming up with more new characters.  They can only live of nostalgia for so long.  Though, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a new crossover with Usagi Yojimbo.

Like the prior comic series, there’s a spin-off series of micro issues that serve to flesh out individual characters as well as set up new story elements.  So far, each of the Turtles, Splinter, Casey, April, and the Fugioid have received focus, and each serves as a both great stand-alone read and essential for understanding things to come.  Each one gives us a unique look on the perspective of the respective character in focus and takes care of the necessary character development so the main book can flow more smoothly.

Duncan and Pattison’s combined excellence in full display

The art in the first twelve issues was handled by Dan Duncan and Ronda Pattison and it was gorgeous.  Duncan’s were striking and fluid, like the Turtles themselves.  Every panel had a strong sense of movement and he really knew how to stage a scene with the strongest angles possible.  No exaggerated musculature here, the character designs were all simple and geometric.  The look of the environments had a great grittiness to them and Pattison’s colors really highlighted that.  I don’t know if they were done digitally, but I doubt it.  The issues looked hand painted to me and added to the fluidity of the action.  They characters were bright and stood out from the dark shadowy backgrounds.  As of issue 13, Andy Kuhn has taken over at duties, and while not as dynamic as Duncan, he offers a unique and delightfully odd look that fits the tone of the TMNT.

Pencils from Issue #8

This new series is like an “Ultimate TMNT”.  It takes what came before and molds it into a fresh new modern take we haven’t seen before.  It uses nearly the entire franchise as building blocks, and as a result it’s hard to see where each storyline will lead.  People know that TMNT has a comic series going again, and this is a great one to present them with.  It satisfies older fans, intrigues newer fans, and has become one of IDW’s highest selling comic series.

When everyone was up-in-arms about the Michael Bay TMNT movie, I was content in the knowledge that as long as I had this comic, I didn’t care what they did to the Turtles in the movie (then I read the script and thought otherwise, I’ll cover that later).  This, to me, is the perfect TMNT…anything.  It’s got everything I ever wanted out of the franchise and for a long time after it came out, I thought it couldn’t get any better.

Then on September 29^th, 2012…it got better…

Next Time: The New Cartoon!

In the wake of the lacklustre Chaos event, IDW decided to split its ongoing book into two. One would be Robots in Disguise, helmed by John Barber and Andrew Griffith and the other would be More Than Meets The Eye, with James Roberts and Alex Milne (Although Roche would do the first issue and the preceding one-shot.)
This trade includes the Death of Optimus Prime one-shot and the three-part story Liars, A To D. The one-shot shows the fallout of Chaos as Cybertron is dialled back to it’s very origins as a primordial wasteland with only a small shanty town serving as port. The war is over and the planet sent out a signal to all it’s children, “Come home.” So while the Autobots are still rounding up wayward Decepticons, thousands of neutral Cybertronians make the pilgrimage home and they’re not pleased with what they find. The NAILs (Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeform) thought they were returning to a utopia, only to find a barren wasteland and the Autobots acting as an occupying force. It’s all very “War in Iraq” and tensions rise until Optimus Prime leaves. He renounces his leadership and heads off into space, leaving the two squabbling factions within the Autobot camp to their own devices. Bumblebee (interim-leader back on Earth) wants to stay and rebuild society with the NAILs while Rodimus (Former Matrix-Bearer) wants to leave to find the Knights of Cybertron to recover some of their lost heritage. Rodimus is resolute and despite what others think, he finds a willing crew to go on his quest.

Geez, that’s just the basic outline of the first two issues of the trade. Hoo-boy. Throughout those two issues, you really get a sense of where the characters are at. Tensions are high, nerves are wearing thin, 4 millions years of war ended in a massive anti-climax and the people they’ve been fighting for want little more than to throw them off Cybertron. The first part of Liars, A To D shows various members of The Lost Light (The irony is delicious) coming together and showing us why we will love every single one of them for the foreseeable future. The launch of the ship feels understated but as an “accidental” explosion launches them into the vastness of space (Leaving the Autobots on Cybertron to think they’re dead) an ominous message falls on deaf ears.

From here on, the series really comes into it’s own as an adventurous romp through the cosmos with plenty of laughs, horror and emotional whiplash. It’s also from the second issue of MTMTE that Alex Milne takes over art duties and he does an excellent job of blending Nick Roche’s expressive art with Milne’s detail and imaginative designs. Alex Milne really cemented his place as my favourite Transformers artists when he began this series and he hasn’t disappointed since.

The Lost Light is now, well, lost. They find themselves in deep-space and down forty crew members after a hull-breach. They set down on the planet below to pick up survivors and two new crew members, Skids and Cyclonus. Skids appears, oblivious to even his own name, in a mysterious ship that is coming apart at the seams. He escapes the crash only to realise he’s being hunted, as the ships parts seemingly form several sworld-wielding warriors. He works through his amnesia until he works out his own name, function and even his motto (Which he thinks is rubbish, a sly dig at his previous portrayal). Cyclonus is offered a place on the ship after his Heel Face Turn in Chaos and subtly threatens Whirl (whom he caught desecrating corpses last issue) and Skids is found by other members of the crew. Once all are on board and on their way again, Rodimus receives a message from Red Alert (Ships paranoid Director of Security) with grave news:

The final issue of the trade is one big homage to Alien and serves up a big dollop of space horror. I love it when they establish folklore for the Transformers, it makes them more than just robots, that they have their own mythology and deities, something Roberts has been putting plenty of in since he starting writing. In fact, James Roberts’ writing has a lot to do with the success of this book. He builds complex, diverse characters in such a small amount of time, builds worlds for them to inhabit and makes us care when they ultimately succumb to his sadistic whims. Oh, yes. Jimmy likes to kill, maim, torment and goad his characters in all manner of ways but it never feels mean-spirited. He loves all of the characters he uses and makes us love them too.

What I absolutely love about the creative team on this book is that they love to give the fans extras. James Roberts provided so much more material for both releases of Wreckers and Alex Milne has proven time and again to dole out concept work like it’s candy and this trade is no exception. After the four issues, you get a ton of bonus material like cover art, a “Meet the Crew” segment that humorously introduces most of the cast, concept sketches from Milne for various characters and ship locations (plus a look at two characters appearing in the next volume), and a 2-page editor’s comment with “behind the scenes” information about the series which is chock-full of interesting trivia. Not only that but Milne produced a brand new cover just for the trade off his own back, something that he previously did for the Drift miniseries rather than rely on one of the single issue covers.

While its sister-book is by no means a bad book but it really suffers when compared to this immensely fun series. It’s a delightful blend of humour, horror and Firefly-esque antics. Between an engaging story, beautiful artwork, brilliant dialogue and characters, and tons of extras, More Than Meets The Eye gives you your moneys-worth and then some. The first volume is available now through all good book retailers and the second volume will be out October 16th (According to Amazon)

As always,  if you have any thoughts, opinions or comments just leave them in the comment section below!

Last Stand of The Wreckers is a 5-issue miniseries released by IDW and helmed by British-born James Roberts and Irish-born Nick Roche released in 2010. Roche had written and drawn for IDW in the past and brought Roberts in to help on a coda story before they were both assigned to this series. Re-assembling the Wreckers (a black-ops Autobot team) in the wake of the All Hail Megatron maxiseries, the series follows the team as they attempt to retake Garrus-9, a prison facility that has fallen into Decepticon hands and, most worryingly of all, into the hands of renowned sadist, Overlord. To quote the ‘Wreckers: Declassified’ entry for this event, this is:

“The story of ten soldiers and a stowaway who rode into the valley of death. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them. Volley’d and thunder’d. It’s a story of sacrifice and betrayal, and of good people dying in stupid, pointless ways.”

And that sums up the series. In fact, it’s pretty much the central theme. Lies run rampant throughout; whether from the Wreckers’ superiors or the Wreckers themselves. Every character is flawed and broken, but, at the same time, put on a façade to convince the world that they’re not but ultimately transcend their problems in the face of the ultimate enemy. It’s really funny that most of the people I’ve shown the series to dismiss it outright because of it’s art-style and while Roche’s style might seem cartoony, that doesn’t detract from the horror and visceral nature of the book. If anything, it makes it all the more horrifying as the bright visuals contrast against the dark tone of the series. That’s not to say there aren’t lighter moments and our writer/artist duo does their best to inject some humour into bad situations, something that will be more prevalent in James Roberts’ future writing, whether as a guest writer or helming an ongoing series.

The themes of betrayal, sacrifice and hero worship run deep within all the characters and it’s the characters that really bring this book to life. The cast list runs into the dozens but I’ll focus on a few of the major players and do cliff-notes of some of the others. First up:

Ironfist is the fan boy proxy. He’s utterly devoted to the Wreckers and their numerous adventures, to the point where he takes on the moniker of ‘Fisitron’ to write Wreckers: Declassified, an abridged recounting of the Wreckers adventures, culled from mission reports and other sources. He is the series’ most tragic character and with good reason.

Overlord is the series primary antagonist; a Phase-Sixer, a Decepticon known for being immensely powerful and incredibly sadistic. Equal parts Caligula and walking nuclear warhead,  He would be part of Megatron’s “final solution” except for one thing. Overlord defected and has spent every waking moment since trying to goad Megatron into action, taking Garrus-9 being just the latest in a long line of “whimsical displays” Overlord has taken advantage of. Shockwave put it best:
“You think you’re enjoying this, but you’re not. … The open graves. The torture chambers. All just hollow theatrics. This is an exercise in provocation. This is you trying to get Megatron’s attention.” He’s an endearing villain and the perfect enemy to fight a rag-tag bunch of suicidal Autobots.

Rotorstorm, Pyro and Guzzle round out the newbie Wreckers, all on their first mission with Ironfist. These four (along with Overlord and a bunch of Decepticon Predators) are plucked from the depths of obscurity and given their first real depiction in Transformers media. Each have their own reasons for being on the team and each get their moment to shine, for good or ill. Rotorstorm is a hot-head narcissistic aerialist with a dark past and a penchant for chiding himself in private. Pyro is a sufferer of Primus apotheosis; an acute form of hero-worship bordering on the obsessive, and Guzzle is on a mission for revenge but never really gets it, which is one of the weaker points of the book.
The rest of the Wreckers consist of veterans Springer, Kup, Perceptor, Twin Twist, Topspin and stowaway Verity (A holdover human character from IDW’s previous Transformers series)

The series is available in trade paperback and hardcover. The TPB includes an 11-page prose story written by James Roberts that expands on the characters backgrounds and their motivations, a one page strip called Dead Man’s Boots, profiles of Overlord and Snare, behind the scenes facts and more all done off the creator’s own backs.
But the hardcover blows that out of the water with 46 extra pages of content, including all the profiles omitted from single issues that were omitted from the trade plus more, series covers, script extracts, guest artwork, a page on Squadron X, a 2-page segment called “Escape”, 2 pages of promotional artwork, 2 pages of Pin-Ups, a first draft, the 5-page “Zero Point” and “In Word and Deed”.
If you choose to pick up the series, you can’t go wrong with either option.

I cannot express my love for this miniseries enough. It brought together toy-only characters who hadn’t been seen in decades and finally gave them voices. If All Hail Megatron could be equated to a summer blockbuster then Wreckers would be the cult favourite and it has very much earned that status. It’s a fantastic story with an incredibly engaging story and lovable characters. It’s no wonder this series has been heralded by many critics as “The Transformers’ answer to Watchmen”. But come back next time when I’ll be reviewing the first volume of a series that’s so much More Than Meets The Eye!

My good friend and fellow DOOM writer Colin Hill has convinced me to record my voice once again. In this recording, we (he) apply our (his) vast TMNT knowledge to the rebooted and refreshed Ninja Turtles franchise. We give our impressions of the changes to the series’ origins and give our honest estimation of where its going to go. Please excuse the poor quality of conversation at the beginning because, despite both having quite a lot of podcasting experience, neither of us seemed to know what the hell we were doing on this one. This is unedited, despite me saying in the episode that I’m going to edit it…sue me, I’m lazy.

Many distractions and tangents will be experienced by you as we feel our way through the issue and try to keep a running narrative on what we should say. Hopefully, with practice, we can bring you more of these audio episodes to sate your need to hear Colin’s deep baritone vocals and my poor quality microphone.

Click here to download!