Transformers Top Lists News on Seibertron.com

Top 5 Worst IDW Transformers Stories

Date: Sunday, April 4th 2021 12:44am CDT
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: Kurona

Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 128,018

Every month now, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor, or a guest. That's the case this month where fellow Seibertronian Kurona wrote this list. These are our opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.


Top 5 Worst IDW G1 Transformers Stories

For many years, the IDW Generation One comics have been a gift to its readership. Entertaining battles and interesting new spins on old characters are a standard of any good Transformers series; but the IDW comics stand out in particular for being aimed at an older audience than usual - hence we've been challenged with darker material, philosophical questions, political allegories and deep character studies the likes of which we have never had in the franchise before. Among all this sophistication, however, it's sometimes easy to forget that the company has unfortunately put out some very, very bad stories in its time. Let's count down what are arguably the 5 worst IDW Transformers stories!



5. Combiner Wars

As time has gone on, my opinion on this crossover has lightened up a bit as it does have quite a few good points. We have some fantastic action courtesy of a very unique style of combiner battles, we get to see Starscream's political machinations behind the scenes continue to wreak havoc on society, and this arc did provide the true beginning to the Colony Worlds story that makes the Windblade books and Till All Are One so good.




However, these are not enough to save this crossover - only enough to put it at the top of the list rather than the bottom. This was a scary event from the outset as it put interference from Hasbro at an all-new high - while IDW did advertise some of Hasbro's Universe/Generations toys before, generally it was at a much lower rate compared to the usual amount of salesmanship Transformers fans are used to and they were allowed to continue their stories with only a couple new bodies or background characters to show for it. However, Combiner Wars saw fit to shove in as many toys as it could at an alarming rate, even to the expense of interesting concepts like the Prowl-controlled Devastator getting shelved for the sake of showing off the new £150 Titan-Class toy. An attempt at focus in the storyline seems evident but we can barely keep up as the titular gestalt scuffles rage not once, not twice, but three times over the course of but a few issues when the political and religious ramifications of Cybertron coming into contact with Caminus should be at the forefront. 'Combine' that with an unprecedented amount of scripting and art errors and it's easy to see why many fans at the time took to calling this the worst arc of the post-Death of Optimus Prime era.
- Kurona


4. Infestation

This is a bit odd because it technically isn't a Transformers story - well, it is, but the actual Transformers part is just one aspect of it. The actual story is based around, as far as I can tell, two of IDW's original franchises - CVO: Covert Vampire Operations and Zombies vs. Robots. A prelude of multiversal nonsense has zombies invade multiple universes in what was at the time billed as the biggest crossover event of IDW as a company, with zombies infesting various of their licensed universes - G.I. Joe, Ghosbusters, Star Trek and, of course, Transformers. This isn't the first time IDW Transformers has done a cross-continuity crossover, but it is notable for being the only one of the two that stayed canon and had effects on the universe going forward.




And as one might have guessed, the two-issue segment of Infestation containing the Transformers is pretty bad! Transformers does not lend itself well to the threat of undead flesh. The whole point of zombies as a horror trope is that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to stop it; it is slowly coming for you, it will get you, and everyone who falls in its path will be added to its ranks. It's very chilling, and while in recent years Zombies in horror movies have arguably not been used to their best potential - that's a top 5 worst list all on its own - it's still very possible to make them very scary with a human element. Not with a giant-robots-from-outer-space element. You can't possibly fear for the Autobots here as the best the zombies can do is weakly slap their metal before getting kicked away or obliterated by a photon blast, and even in the story Wheeljack uses their advanced technology to make sure they can't even get to the humans beyond a small portion of Las Vegas! But even beyond that faulty premise the story does not inspire confidence. Galvatron and Prowl are both wildly out of character, very weak "it's magic, we don't have to explain it" reasoning is used for the main villain to pose a threat to Cybertronians, and a potentially interesting look at Kup's mental health following Everything in its right place (a very good Transformers story I can recommend) is pulled out of nowhere by trying too hard to link the undead to what happened in his Spotlight and resulting in a rather pointless sacrifice to stop villains we don't care about from a universe we don't care about. Maybe CVO and Zombies vs. Robots are interesting franchises, I don't know; but it really had no business being here.
- Kurona


3. 2019 IDW Reboot Series

You know what's worse than something bad? Something boring. And this series is the most boring piece of Transformers fiction I ever read. At any point that it picks up an inkling of momentum, it then shifts into an all talk issue leading to absolutely nowhere. I swear I never read a comic with so many panels of Transformers just talking while walking up or down some stairs.

Here's a shot from issue 7



Now one from issue 8



By 10 we at least get to see some actiOH My God STOP!





And this was supposed to be a bold new era of Transformers fiction. Give me a break!
- william-james88


2. All Hail Megatron

Ah, All Hail Megatron. Now we're getting to the big leagues. For those that have only started reading IDW in the past few years, a quick history lesson - when IDW first got the license to Transformers back in 2006, the infamous and well-loved among the fandom writer Simon Furman was given full reign to create whatever story he liked with nothing to hold him back. And it was, in fact, rather interesting and a Transformers story unlike what we had seen before. Full emphasis was put on 'robots in disguise' as Autobots and Decepticons alike made sure to hide themselves from humans at all cost. Darker, more complex morals for the Autobots were introduced with an Optimus jaded by the war and implied to not have the matrix. Megatron played the long game with an infiltration protocol that had the Decepticons pervade a world's politics and society before destroying it and taking over. Lesser-used characters like Hardhead and Doubledealer became big players alongside new concepts like Sunstreaker being a Headmaster. This was no Shakespeare, but it was a great breath of fresh air for the franchise.




So you can probably understand why the fans who loved this little era were not appreciative when All Hail Megatron came around. Suffering sales forced IDW to bring in a whole new direction and soft-reboot for the title as Shane McCarthy took over writing duties. So what was this fresh new direction? What wellspring of new ideas came from a writer new to the series? Well, the Decepticons abandon all subtlety and take over Earth. And suddenly have technology that in previous stories was stated to be extremely rare and lost to the ages. And then the Autobots come and defeat them. Oh, and Optimus has the matrix and there's an original character who is a samurai Decepticon turned Autobot in there somewhere. Disregarding the AHM: Coda series which attempted to patch this up - and in some parts was rather good - this plays out essentially like a bland, standard, by-the-books G1 episode or action movie with a superficial gritty overlay. Little characterisation is given or focused on beyond Ironhide's newfound want for punching everyone and everything, and I constantly ask why I don't stop reading this and put on the 1986 movie instead. At least that one had the bravery to actually kill off important characters to increase tension! Oh sure, it was purely to sell toys, but it's a heck of a lot better than this! At the end of the day, this is a story that tries to pretend it's mature and gritty but instead has no new ideas, nothing important to say, no risks to take, and comes off as a watered-down version of an 80s movie whose express intent was selling toys.
- Kurona


1. Revolution

It was a little difficult for me to put this ahead of things as cynical as All Hail Megatron, as you do feel a real passion here. One of the great things about all the creative teams on the modern IDW Transformers comics is that you can feel a true love for the franchise and the series they're writing for - this isn't just a day job for them, this is something they want to do and something they adore doing. And as an aspiring writer myself, I can kind of see how they thought this could be a fun idea - much as the concept has arguably been overdone after Marvel's movies proved it could be successful, an expanded shared universe does bring in a lot of positives. You're able to explore a lot more areas of your world and universe and focus on a lot of different things at once without getting in the way of each other all the time. Your franchise can bring in a lot of different readers looking for a lot of different things. You can have some great crossovers with some entertaining team-ups and history if you really work well at it!




But it's hard to see how one could start up a shared universe worse. I'm not entirely sure how much I have to criticise this here - of the six franchises involved, four of them have no history and have either just started up a few months prior or are starting in this very book. It... the premise speaks for itself. This is probably not going to go very well. Between having to start up MASK, restart G.I. Joe and show what exactly is going on with the Transformers; Micronauts and Action Man barely get to show up at all in the crossover while ROM does show up... and acts completely out of character in the first issue by killing someone without trying to explain why (trying to explain being something he had consistently done in his own comic up until this point) to set up artificial drama and conflict in the second. As crossovers go, this is badly thought out. While the focus has to be on some group and you can't be perfect in your distribution; you should at least try and give equal focus to each party involved in the crossover and make sure to represent them correctly. Instead we got a trigger-happy moronic G.I. Joe randomly shooting at the Autobots in what is... probably the 1,673th time in this franchise humans don't understand there are good robots (despite their predecessors in the EDC making such a distinction and going about things far, far better in more interesting ways for the story), ROM being an idiot, a bulk of focus being given to MASK characters who at the end of the day don't really contribute anything to the story, and Action Man and the Micronauts only arriving at the last second to give too little joy too late. The final battle should be an awesome sight to behold - all these iconic characters people have grown up with over the years banding together for the very first time to fight a threat none of them can hope to face alone. But the actual action panels are a mess with too much happening to make out anything that's going on - not helped by the art which is decent at best, and distorts characters like Victorion and Arcee beyond recognition at worst - and even if they were good by the time you got to Issue #5 you're so exhausted from the terrible quality of the preceding issues and trying to make sense of what I can only generously call a plot that it's difficult to feel any investment or care.

I really did try to like Revolution. I really did. And you know what? I like the shared universe! The miniseries Revolutionaries alone has proven its merits, some of the books (especially Micronauts) are pretty damn good, we've got what looks to be a decent, small-scale crossover between Transformers and ROM coming up, and despite the fears many fans had; the Optimus Prime ongoing has had minimal effect on its stories by the shared universe while the other two ongoings (Till All Are One and Lost Light) go on as if it never happened. The shared universe is working out fantastically, and if any readers left because of Revolution - something I can't be surprised by and something I really can't blame you for - I absolutely urge you to pick up these ongoings you loved again, because they're still great and Revolution has not hurt them in the slightest.

But as a comic? As a story? As a crossover? As something I can pick up to read and try and enjoy and have fun and hopefully get invested in some new characters and comics? Revolution is an objective failure in almost every area, and I am sorry to say that it is the worst story in the IDW G1 continuity that at the time of writing has ever been put out.
- Kurona


Dishonourable mentions:

Dark Cybertron is yet another unfortunate example that shows IDW sadly, for whatever reason, can't make a good crossover. It wasn't awful and I would certainly recommend it to you over anything on this list, but it was a very long very boring story that, contrary to a lot of modern IDW's strengths, required you to know a lot of backstory and seemed to exist for the pure purpose of tying up loose threads from when Furman left the series. Still, it does provide some good lines, some good team-ups (Whirl and Arcee, Rodimus and Optimus), and managed three incredible twists at the end - two of which it seemed like Hasbro would never let IDW do - that paved the way for amazing stories and have not been undone since.

New Avengers/Transformers, on the other hand, is so stupendously bad it almost got a spot on this list. I decided against it as Infestation is one multi-continuity crossover enough for the list and unlike that one, this has the good grace to be non-canon to both franchises involved. But it is still a mess. Some cool ideas like Iron Man getting a bigger suit to be on-par with the Decepticons and a neat homage to Marvel Transformers #3 aside there are almost no good points to be found here; the art isn't particularly outstanding, character motivations seem to come and go (ESPECIALLY with Dr. Doom), the plot is standard and boring and almost nothing interesting comes of the team-ups. But hey, I got to mention Dr. Doom and Iron Man in a Transformers list, so I'll give it that.

Also, while the Heart of Darkness limited series is related to the Infestation event that is already on the main list, I wanted to make special mention of it here for adding terrible art to an already completely uninspired story.

Top 5 Best Arcee Transformers Toys

Date: Friday, March 5th 2021 1:21pm CST
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 97,222

Every month now, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.


Top 5 Best Arcee Transformers Toys

2020 was the year of Arcee since we had a toy of this character in every line. We got one in Masterpiece, Studio Series, Cyberverse and Generations. So clearly, we now have enough toys to get a decent Top 5 list going on. Here we go!


5. Cyberverse Deluxe Arcee

Arcee was a super fun character on the show, especially thanks to voice actress, Jaime Lamchick, and the toy conveys her lax and gunslinging personality well. Greatly posable, real dynamic, and hey, she comes with an actually useful Maccadam part (hammer!), and unlike other Arcees out in 2020, this one has a manageable and actually accurate backpack.
-notsoalex






4. MP-51 Masterpicee Arcee

The vehicle is absolutely PERFECT. All the details are there. Despite the arms hanging a bit low, the car roll flawlessly. The interior is perfectly detailed, down to even a painted dashboard! Transformation is long and hard, but surprisingly not frustrating. Also, everything felt SOLID in hand with nothing seeming fragile or about to break. |We end up with a pretty nice fembot with a backpack that is not too bad in person, considering that the car mode have NO sacrifices. Obviously, Arcee is back heavy and it limit some poses. The chest and high collar is an odd design choice but it's not too bad, she's still worth every single cent that I paid. Could this Arcee be better? Maybe yes, but some choices had to be made. Here, it's the vehicle mode that got priority so the robot is a bit compromised with her backpack. Regardless, I highly recommend this official MP.
- Kanrabat








3. Prime RID and First Edition Arcee

For the Prime line, certain characters were released twice in totally different molds at the begining. There was the First Edition (FE) version that was supposed to come out first in some sort of exclusive capacity followed by a Robots in Disguise (RID) mold that was meant for a more general release. For most bots, there is a clear winner between the two versions, but not Arcee. It turns out both her FE and RID molds are excellent and you can't go wrong with either of them to represent Prime Arcee in your collection. The RID version is a bit more accurate with her wings but the FE version has that nice complex transformation that adds some unique alt mode integration in the robot mode for the chest area. And both just look great!
-william-james88






2. Animated Arcee

We often get sleeker versions of earth based cars (like Cybertron Hotshot) that don't capitalize on the potential of designing vehicles from other worlds. This one totally fits the bill though. Unlike so many other alt modes, it bravely crosses the line between being a futuristic design to a full blown cybertronian one. It is a great homage to G1 Arcee which is followed through in robot mode and I like the added massive spoilers in the back. That detail gives it enough variation from the traditional Arcee model. Too bad it has exposed hands in vehicle mode though. Props go for it having that signature Arcee backpack without going the easy route and making this a shellformer.
-william-james88






1. Takara Legends Arcee

While we have had several Arcees since this release, two more in the Generations line, this still feels like the best one. As a fan of Transformers toys, vehicle integration goes a long way and of all the Arcees with this G1 vehicle mode, this is the one that tries the hardest. While the backpack is unavoidable, the integration of the hips and chest means there is less to attempt to compact together in the back and you are instead left with what G1 Arcee would look like on the show if her backpack didn't magically shrink. The deco given by Takara just pushes it over the edge for G1 accurate goodness. It's a great toy all around and still the definitive Arcee to this date.
-william-james88

Top 5 Best Thundercracker Transformers Toys

Date: Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 9:19pm CST
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 69,577

Every month now, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.


Top 5 Best Thundercracker Transformers Toys

After our previous Top 5 Starscream list, an interesting discussion ensued on our boards. While other Starscream molds were brought up, many felt that some worked better for other seekers. And that gave me the idea to look at every seeker as an individual character and revisit their history within the brand. It was fascinating to see how each seeker has their own idiosyncratic molds and some molds that they just own. Today we will cover Thundercracker.

5. Action Master Thundercracker Solo Mission Jet Plane

Thundercracker is the only other seeker released in the Action Master line and while he does share the same mold as Starscream, the toy is rather unique in other ways. First of all, that deco is CRAZY but in the best ways. Definitely screams more G2 than anything else and that makes sense since this was a (totally rad) 90s toy. He does have his own unique molding in terms of accessories which is a jet that he can pilot (just adding to the wackiness) that then turns into a mecha body for him. Fun playability all around and an iconic deco that is now remembered as Shatterred Glass Thundercracker.










4. Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Leader Thundercracker

While I was not a huge fan of this toy when it was released as Starscream, I thought it looked great as Thundercracker. It's a very imposing toy and makes a fun and affordable display piece, compared to the MP.






3. Studio Series Thundercracker

This is one of the few molds that Thundercracker has which Starscream does not. And unlike other instances (like the Cybertron line) this mold rocks! I really love how it blends the symmetry of the jet mode with the asymmetry of the robot mode. It also has a very satisfying and meaty transformation. Hasbro gave this release some extra attention in the deco department, as we see on the thunder motif tail and extra deco on the knees. I like that the new head sculpt is fairly Starscream-like but still unique and he is Titan Master compatible for even more fun. This was also one of the very last Toysrus exclusives ever available in the US, an extra piece of bittersweet trivia.








2. Earthrise Thundercracker

What a solid toy. I loved the Classics mold but the size just didn't work for me. So now that issue is fixed with the Earthrise toy and we also have him in more show accurate colours and improved articulation so it's just win win.






1. Siege Thundercracker

While both molds are good, I tend to preffer the Earthrise mold over the Siege one for Seekers. However with Thundercracker, there is a bit more at play since this Siege version gives us his first look in the cartoon. While Starscream is the main seeker, it was Thundercracker that we saw on Cybertron in this tetrajet form and unlike Skywarp, who accompanied him, Hasbro nailed the deco.










Honourable Mention

Transformers Convention Club Shattered Glass Thundercracker

While the calssics mold is somewhat covered with the Earthrise mold already on the list, I wanted to mention it again here, especially since there was an exclusive release by the Transformers Club which gave us the Action Master deco through their Shatterred Glass Thundercracker.

Top 5 Best Starscream Transformers Toys So Far

Date: Wednesday, January 6th 2021 4:30am CST
Categories: Site Articles, Editorials, Top Lists
Posted by: william-james88

Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 119,409

Every month now, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Best Starscream Transformers Toys so Far

While anticipating the next Masterpiece Starscream, I just wanted to cover all the great toys that we got of him so far. This is one of the few characters that has been a mainstay through different eras, almost as much as Optimus Prime and Megatron (even more so than Bumblebee who was absent for the Unicron Trilogy). And since Takara's best designer is a fan of the character, he was always given some extra love in the design department, and as we're about to see, it shows.


5. Studio Series Starscream

Upscaling a toy might be an easy way to put "new" products on the shelves but it can also result in great toys, like Beast Hunters Voyager Predaking. And the result for this voyager Starscream is awesome! Even being familiar with the deluxe mold from Dark of the Moon, the bigger pieces made for a very fresh transforming experience. And it being an upscale did not feel in any way like it had less parts than it should. It felt complex enough for a voyager. I really appreciate the attention to detail like covering parts that used to show hollowness adding parts to beef out the sides, add detail to the sculpt and, best of all, use that now famed Takara MP Beast Wars technology for adding a digital textured deco layer all across the alt mode. Really cool. The tatooed redeco for the Revenge of the Fallen version is just as good.










4. Transformers Prime: First Edition Starscream

This is one of the best seeker molds of all time. The design choice to have the robot mode be so slim and sleek makes him look creepier than any version of Starscream before. I am so impressed with how they were able to pull off a robot mode as skeletal as the one depicted onscreen and yet still have him perfectly transform into a tight and smooth jet mode where no robot limb protrudes, as is often the case with jets.






3. Transformers Cybertron Starscream

It is really too bad that the voyager Starscream toy in his show colours was never released by Hasbro, but at least fans got to experience this excellent mold in other colours, such as a very Thrust like burgundy and in blue with Dirge. And yes, even with the Siege mold out there, this is the better looking Cybertronian mode we've ever gotten for Starscream.










2. Transformers Hunt For The Decepticons Leader Starscream and MPM-10 Starsceam

These two toys are both great and achieve the same purpose so what I saw for one is almost the same as I'd say for the other. They are relentlessly detailed and screen accurate (obviously, the MPM more so). There are many separate pieces which shift in perspective by being moving from the background to foreground while transforming him to the point where it really feels like there is a robot inside the jet made up of all the jet parts and you uncover him through the transformation. Both of these toys show us what perfection is in a different way. With the Leader class one, we have a much cleaner jet mode and a satisfying while intuitive transformation but the robot mode is not as detailed. With the MPM one we have the most perfect robot mode we will ever get for the movie Starscream design. However, it is far more fiddly and the jet mode, while still looking sharp, does have an undercarriage which looks more out of place. So these toys tell us that while you can't have absolute perfection, you can still have two incredible toys.










1. Transformers War for Cybertron: Earthrise Starscream

I have made lists for seekers and jets in the past and while I always included the classics mold, I did always wish it was bigger. I loved the look of it though, as well as the simple yet smart transformation. It seems Hasbro was thinking the same thing, and now I realize there is a trend in good Starscream toys being the result of upscaling a good deluxe toy. With this toy, we have what I would call our definitive Starscream for a classics scale. Plus with this being the same scale and overall aesthetic as the Siege tetra jet, you can form a really awesome armada of seekers varying in designs and colour with Starscream in the lead.