Deviations: In a World Where Optimus Prime Never Died

[Professor Smooth]

Was ****ing TERRIBLE.

I didn't think IDW would ever produce a book worse than their TFTM movie adaptation, but here it is. Just a complete and total failure on every measurable level.

...except the one where they got my $5. So, fair play, I guess.

Check it out. It's definitely in the realm of "so bad it's awesome".

[Metal Vendetta]

Man, it's like mid-90s fanfic never went away.

I thought this started quite well... but quickly lost its way. Got a ship full of characters but you're not sure what to do with them? Why not just crash the ship into a planet and kill them all? Are you struggling to make Starsc- sorry, Megascream into a convincing antagonist? How about having him combine with Soundwave, Dirge, Thrust and Astrotrain to form a somehow even less convincing antagonist? And if he was upgraded by Unicron, shouldn't he be called Galvascream?

I might pick up a paper copy of this to keep alongside the BotCon comics as examples of how not to write Transformers... I tried to give it a chance, I really did, but its sheer awfulness just can't be denied. It's really, really bad. I'm not fully convinced that it's "so bad it's awesome", but it is getting there.

[Yaya]

Amazing how a few lines of awful dialogue can take you out of a story.

I was actually a bit excited there in the beginning after the first five pages or so. Thought there might be some potential. Then it just fell apart, starting with Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod bickering back and forth at each other like school children. I mean, that came out of nowhere. Dialogue became progressively worse. There just wasn't enough twists in it and it was campy. I mean, if it's a "What If" kind of story, hell man, go to town! Get crazy with the story. Didn't happen.

[snarl]

Absolute ******* ****. Just... Jesus ******* wept.

I'm astounded how people get jobs in writing when it's absolutely clear they cannot write.

Then I remember quality is not always the deciding factor in what sells... and can in fact be a problem if your target audience are ******* thick, as I continually find transformers fans are.

This is my major irk with Barber btw, that his dialogue is often *****. The conversations in his book are so convoluted and uneasy. They never flow. They don't sound "real". Does he read his stuff through then think... "That just... that just sounds odd." I wonder?

Alternatively, wouldn't it be wonderful if all the conversations in his actual life are just like those in TF!

I put James Roberts on the spot about this at the 50# signing thing in London a few weeks ago. Nothing particularly interesting came of it, other than me thinking in retrospect that it was a bit of a ***** thing to do on my part.

[Metal Vendetta]

I was actually a bit excited there in the beginning after the first five pages or so. Thought there might be some potential. Then it just fell apart

What a perfect three-line review.

[snarl]

It's true as well.

The whole part copied verbatim from the TF:TM script was good.

[Yaya]

After this, I'm frustrated even more that people are getting writing gigs, or even higher positions like editor, and are very clearly not deserving of that position. I can only think there are other reasons, perhaps connections and such, why these guys are landing these. Because it's clearly not competence.

I get what snarlz is saying about Barber. His dialogue is so jarring that this is the first time EVER I have dropped a TF comic. Not even with Costa or McCarthy did I do that. And it's the main title.

[bumblemusprime]

This was really bad. Dreamwave fans woulda been all over it.