Transformers - They're here (too stay?)

TRANSFORMERS: Live Action Movie

Their War. Our World.

It's true. They're already here. And gosh, are the fans ready to see this. And chew it up and spit it out - OR - see it again and again, buy the notorious movie tie-in toys, comics, novels, and other merchandise.

For me, i've been watching the production of this as an avid TF fan from the beginning on Producer Don Murphy's infamous message board, seeing screenwriters come and go, Steven Spielberg come and bring in others, namely Director Michael Bay.

This is a Bay film. The trailers and TV spots have his fantastic flair and rich action scenes already speaking for themselves.
Check out his site www.shootfortheedit.com and find 2 new downloads of TV spots "Hidden" and "Destiny" - complete with uber-fan easter eggs of Camaro Bumblebee sidling up to a classic VW beetle, his old vehicle mode.

My hopes for this movie are massive. In a season with huge blockbuster SEQUELS (Spidey 3, PotC 3, Shrek 3, Bourne Ultimatum, FF2) this is a new thing. New design, new faces (Shia Lebouf in a big starring role, plus Big-screen relative new-comer Josh Duhamel (Lost)), and a new story.

What this movie has to do is bring in the fans in a welcoming way to the masses. We haven't created a religion from this, but we're close. It's just that we can't decide what the mythological, scientific and logical beginnings are of our favourite franchise. This is where the movie can capitalise. A new breed of fans, young and old, can connect with this film in a neutral playground - feature films. It's fantastic, truely.

Get into it people. July is coming. They are here. Watch your ipods...

IDW Transformers: Stormbringer TPB

During the week of my birthday (Feb 25th), this wonderful trade was released - Transformers: Stormbringer. The second collected series in IDW's main continuity proved to be a hit with the fans even before its single issues release. The unofficial tagline "No humans" satiated the need for pure robot vs robot action - of which "TF: Infiltration" in some people's opinions thought was lacking. In my opinion, TF:I was an excellent story driven mini-series that introduced the new universe (IDWverse) for the Transformers.

Stormbringer takes this to a whole new level. We are immediately introduced to some familiar and perhaps less familiar characters, the Autobots in this case are led by Jetfire, and later Optimus Prime arrives and takes the lead. The Decepticons of this story are an underground cult, led by Bludgeon, who are desperate to resurrect the fallen Thunderwing.

What this mini-series does in bold strokes is expand the continuity with more characters, a bigger universe to play with, plus it seeds directly into Escalation (the third series of the ongoing) as well as many other places as well. To the fans, the existence of Nebulos and other planets shows the scope of the Decepticons plans - their tactics seem to be working in many cases.

Simon Furman received a fair bit of slack for "Infiltration", mainly on the point that some people thought it's pace was too slow. Stormbringer is rather the opposite, a tight 4-issue mini with some excellent cliffhangers. Don Figueroa's art continues to grow and is always a highlight, and young but highly gifted colourist Josh Burcham provides a magnificent palate of deep colours and extreme highlights. IDW have also included some great extra's in the form of sketch art of the series artist, Don Fig. The sketches include; Optimus Prime, Bludgeon, Astrotrain, Cosmos and others.

Overall, this series was a fast ride after the slowly drawn breathe of Infiltration, and it blew refreshed life into the series as a whole. 4/5