Last time we read Transformers Generation 2, the de facto end to the Marvel Comics Transformers canon. Since then the right to publish TF comics fell to upstart company and Image spinoff Dreamwave, which brought the Transformers back to the comics world after an eight year drought with their new title, Transformers Generation 1. Will they succeed where Marvel failed? No.
This is a short preview issue released a month before Generation 1 #1 as a teaser.
Note that this storytime will only be the Dreamwave Generation 1 continuity, so don't get your hopes up for Armada.
People know Dreamwave these days as just the people who did Transformers shortly before IDW but it cannot be stressed enough how impactful and big Dreamwave was for its time especially after the industry crashhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19A-NkfOH3gIf it wasn't for the short sighted idiocy of its founders, Dreamwave would've been inspiring
Visually,this comic was a damn revelation at the time. you can nitpick it like the dorks at TFwiki but seeing transformers with this level of detail was astounding and storywise it's pure popcorn movie, and that's fine for a revival piece like this after almost 10 years without a comic and really no new G1 media for like a decade. It's readable and appealing to a casual fan in a way no other TF comic would really be until Skybound.
>>155585819David Willis is just an oldfag who hates anime, but that style was big in the 2000s for a reason.
Also to put this in perspective, Josh Blaylock said in a podcast that one of his earlier jobs involved licensing and the (then small) company at the time wanted to license 80's Transformers and G.I. Joe from HasbroHasbro was confused, called them fanboys, and said "Who cares about Optimus Prime? We got Beast Machines"And yeah people shit on Geewunners all the time now and over catering to them has led to stagnation absolutely but still, Dreamwave's initial breakout success was a catalyst for a viable 80's nostalgia market in comics
>>155585819>other TF comic would really be until Skybound.Funnily enough, IIRC I saw Matt Moylan dismiss Skybound's take before it came out solely because of DWJ's artHistory repeats I guess
>>155585602>Last time we read Transformers Generation 2, the de facto end to the Marvel Comics Transformers canon.You know, not counting the other 2 ending.
>>155585894UK cast change was ignored
>>155585835>but that style was big in the 2000s for a reason.I'd argue it's a case by case basisJoe Mad was huge of course to the point where his art influenced beyond comics and Dreamwave's house style was a major driving force for its successThe Voltron comics by Devil's Due apparently lost what traction it did have partially because the artstyle shifted to be less anime-esque even if the writing was still consistent This is tangential but I find this the most interesting in retrospectThere was a short series of YA novels in the early 2000's that had a Tokyopop "manga" series with art done by a Chinese artistBy all means it does look visually appealing for the most part and said artist made it big when she went back to her home country but going by the writer's website his fans of the novels HATED how the comics look for being "so anime" to the point where he had to agree to make them non canon if he ever did come back to the series
>>155585879>I saw Matt Moylan dismiss Skybound's take before it came out solely because of DWJ's artFucking HOW, DWJ's art is like his main selling point
>>155585840This phrasing is kinda dubious because at the same time Beast Machines was happening, they were planing Transtech which was planned to bring back Optimus Prime and Autobots and Decepticons.. just not G1 exactly. The missing link is that Car Robots got bought over in 2001 and while it wasn’t meant to be G1, it looked and felt G1 enough to make Hasbro shift gears.Had Takara not made Car Robots as a modern day vehicle based series, who knows what would’ve happened.
>>155585879>>155586133DWJ, Corona, and most of the other Skybound artists really aren’t mecha artists. They draw the robots far more cartoony which is always gonna be controversial with fans.
>>155586197>they were planing Transtech which was planned to bring back Optimus Prime and Autobots and Decepticons.. just not G1 exactly.It could be a matter of one part of Hasbro (the one Blaylock talked to) vs another (the one actually doing big stuff with the IP's direction) with the former not knowing what the latter was cookingIt's still a good point of perspective concerning how certain minds didn't think there would be a viable market for that kind of nostalgia
>>155586287I think DWJ draws them loose like that for A. StylizationB. To emphasize how Transformers are living beingsLook up his Getter Robo and Gundam art
>>155585602Man I’m old. I remember having these comics 24 years ago.
>>155586133I mean he's one of those guys who got filtered by Animated's artstyle so....
>>155586683>>155586683>>155586693>>155586709https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSh73d3TZcA&list=RDHSh73d3TZcA&start_radio=1
>>155585602OH SHIT IT'S DREAMWAVE WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW
>>155585840>Dreamwave's initial breakout success was a catalyst for a viable 80's nostalgia market in comicsIt was the GI Joe relaunch from Blaylock's own Devil's Due a year earlier that kickstarted that 80s toy comics revival in the early 2000s, but Dreamwave's Transformers was succeeding on a level above and beyond any of the other titles. It was the top book in the industry for a while there.As much as certain elements of the hardcore fandom have pushed a narrative that nobody ever liked these comics, a lot of people obviously did like them.
>>155585819Yeah, Dreamwave was really great. It felt like a continuation of G1, but with stellar modern art. It was like jumping from the 60s comics to the 00s.The only downside was the asshole CEO who stole money out of the company, left everyone unpaid and fucked off to Hong Kong.Also his art was kind of garbage, but the style itself was great and they enforced it as an "in-house" style, which meant that better artist could improve on the quality while keeping the style consistent. One of the things that bugged me with IDW was that you had like 3-4 artists and every one of them drew COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY. One drew Bayformers, another drew oil painting style where you could see shit burning but not the Transformers, and a third one drew everyone with super spikey shoulders and antennae out of nothing.So Dreamwaves enforced style was actually a good thing.Shit, other than Pat Lee not paying the people working on the comics, they had no downsides. I wonder why the fuck he did that exactly since they had a good thing going on. Were things that bad even before he started embezzling his own company?
>>155586393And that’s fine but it’s definitely a big change from past TF artists. Like for the IDW launch EJ Su straight up making entirely new designs, picking out new modernized altmodes, and still managed to give the robots personality
>>155587031The worst part is the books were really getting good when Dreamwave collapsed, and most of the material from their final year can't be reprinted because the company went under without leaving records of whether everyone who worked on those books actually got paid or not.
and speaking of tfwiki, check out Pat Lee's (Dreamwave CEO) article for a good laugh.https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Pat_LeeI love how passive-agressive that wiki is, every article is a great read. For the Dinobot combiner minicomic, they used to list "This comic was released" under "Mistakes", but removed it some time later.>>155586093Udon was also quite big at the time and did a lot of work-for-hire books for Marvel as well as the Capcom comics (and then doing that art crime that was Street Fighter 2 HD). They had similar "anime-like" quality. They did Agent X / Deadpool, a modern Taskmaster where he had a different outfit (robot skull mask and no cape), etc. Dreamwave style was mostly like that, except, you know, with a dull surprise on everyones face.
>>155587031>Shit, other than Pat Lee not paying the people working on the comics, they had no downsidesI seem to recall the schedule being wonky. I had the impression Lee wasn't much good at running his company and was probably spending a lot of money on flashy shit
>>155586303I think the gist of it was probably just Hasbro not being sure why they would want the G1 license specifically and not having any reference material to give them or any one to oversee it.In the other TF thread I think you were the same anon who mentioned they requested model sheets, which Hasbro doesn’t really keep for ANY series let alone one from 20 years prior. They still rely on google image search and TFwiki in house. One major reason Dreamwave probably got the license is that Pat Lee did a lot of the initial legwork himself to pitch the license Hasbro. He drew an image of G1 Transformers for wizard and it became such a big deal that that when other comic companies were looking for the license they used that Pat Lee art. For whatever Dreanwave’s poor practices were, it doesn’t seem like they needed model sheets or story bibles because they were familiar enough with the property to make their own designs so it was probably hands off for Hasbro to deal with them ( which probably ended up a bad thing). Another plus is that it provided them and Takara with lots of new G1 promo art.
>>155587119> I love how passive-agressive that wiki isI’ve grown tired of the bitchiness of it, but it doesn’t help that I know the people behind it and their personal issues that they express through the wiki.David Willis(itswalky guy) and M Sipher( guy who bribes gay sex for toys) both are artists who wanted to break into official Transformers art in some way and Dreamwave just made it clear their skills were far too meager. They would at best have to settle on working on the fanclub magazine a few years later. Is Pat Lee an asshole? Yes. Is his art often wonky? Yes. Is the Dreamwave style bad overall? Fuck no it’s cool.
>>155587356>Is Pat Lee an asshole? Yes. Is his art often wonky? Yes. Is the Dreamwave style bad overall? Fuck no it’s cool.Never said their style is bad, in fact I'm saying that their style itself is great. It's just that Pat Lee is trash at drawing it, while every other artist who ghosted for him, and every other artist who was forced to keep up the in-house style, all did a better work. And the fact that they had a forced in-house style meant that the books all looked similar instead of being an arbitrary retarded rollercoaster of wildly dissimilar styles like IDW.
>>155587356>I’ve grown tired of the bitchiness of it, but it doesn’t help that I know the people behind it and their personal issues that they express through the wiki.>David Willis(itswalky guy) and M Sipher( guy who bribes gay sex for toys) both are artists who wanted to break into official Transformers art in some way and Dreamwave just made it clear their skills were far too meager. They would at best have to settle on working on the fanclub magazine a few years later.That's funny considering that tfwiki was sucking up to IDW awfully hard during the time when they did fujo comics or Shockwave having 10 million year long time travel plans.
>>155586133it's not like this busy-bishi crap that became the go-to for 20 years
>>155587475It probably helps that, besides politics, James Robert’s is a big marvel era Furman fan and Willis is an obsessive Marvel G1 fan.Part of Willis’ chip on his shoulder over Dreamwave was that it basically overshadowed the marvel stuff at the time, which the Usenet clique held in higher esteem over the cartoon.
>>155586970I think it's like how Aliens was the series that really led Dark Horse to become more than just the usual small less publisher even though the Godzilla miniseries was what set the foundation for Aliens to expand upon regarding their licensed comics
>>155587256>which Hasbro doesn’t really keep for ANY series let alone one from 20 years prior.Fun fact back when they were still making Power Rangers figures they pulled out reference material for one of the Rangers' likeness' without the helmetOne of the photos was a cosplayer
>>155586067So he already know about Megatron?
>>155587696there's weirdly little promo material from that MMPR show>>155587723DW absolutely fucked it with the scale tho, this is just insanely off
>>155587119> and then doing that art crime that was Street Fighter 2 HD).What was wrong with that?
>>155587779>there's weirdly little promo material from that MMPR showIt was for the Red Ranger from SPD
One of the things I was considering back when I was storytiming was one of Dreamwave's non licensed works if there were decent scans to begin with.I know Transformers was their big bread and butter (and how closely it's tied to their demise) as well as how they were pushing themselves to be a license centric publisher like what IDW would become but I just figured there'd have to be something interesting in the small pool of titles that were original
>>155587950THERE IT IS
>>155587102>and most of the material from their final year can't be reprinted because the company went under without leaving records of whether everyone who worked on those books actually got paid or not.Certain Sonic fans have been scanning Fleetway's Sonic the Comic in 600 DPI because of the near zero percent chance of a re-release and they've made tremendous progress in a short timeI really hope this inspires other fandoms to do similar especially since scanning is a dying art
>>155587950>>155587966Never got the big deal over this. It’s fine. Their eyes can’t really bulge or go open too much without looking weird because they’re mecha. The upwards angle does a good job invoking surprised eyes on the Autobots
>>155588029It's Devastator looking up that throws people off because it feels like it sets people up for another reveal
>>155587865Is that Boku no Pico on the anime billboard?
>>155588113As funny as that'd be it can't unless Pat Lee time traveled
>>155588044>Gigastator
>>155587808>What was wrong with that?The general anatomy is positively liefeldian on individual sprites, and to top that off it also had zero relation to where each detail moved when animated. So things like muscle and anatomical details turned into a spaghetti mess of random blobs floating back and forth on an arm. The cherry on top was that they also swiped artwork from other artists, who did covers, profile artwork, manual artwork etc., and pasted them on top of the bodies. I'll post some pics later.Then came the chef's kiss where they even redid whole entire animations later. So what you see on youtube is probably not what everyone else saw when the game came out.
Christ man reading this shit mood wise its; almost on par with the edge of mid 2000's Marvel
>>155588424You would have an aneurysm if you watched a mecha anime. This isn’t edgy at all.
>>155588499>Humans brainwashing transformers to uses as weapons>All the Marvel tier civiliansC'mon man
>>155588681>fifteen minuteswhere the hell did the nuke launch from, the moon
>>155588810neither is edgy. Human badguys trying to use transformers as weapons is straight G1 cartoon stuff.
That's it for Transformers Generation 1 Volume 1. After a break I'll post sketches, alternate covers, and other extras.
>>155585764Wait, time out, shouldn't Transformers: The War Within come before this?
>>155588919chronologically sure, but I think he's going by publishing order
>>155588919Publishing order is fuckywuckyKind of like the early implication this ambiguously follows from Marvel G1 but then it wildly diverges.
>>155588919That's a prequel to Generation 1 vol. 1. I wanted to post this first since it introduces the setting.>>155588947More or less. I plan on doing all the War Within stories at once before going back to the main title.
>>155587808>>155588377>what was wrong with SF 2 HD Remix?posting pics as promised.
traced artwork from manuals, done by other artists
>>155588947TWW came out a year before this, but some of the spinoffs came out at the same time or later.
original sprite for comparison, so you can see how much out of place the traced head is.
and a comparison of the sprite animation in-game so you can see how janky the new one is.
and how much re-touching they did for the artwork between the demo and the final.
>>155589299are you sure? I'm pretty certain G1 started before War Within. I dunno if WW ended sooner or the tradepaperback came out earlier because G1 suffered from delays, but I'm pretty certain the G1 series is where Dreamwave's transformers stuff started
and a whole detailed explanation full with red lines courtesy of... I don't remember which board I've found this on, either /v/ or /ic/, that explains how much of a talentless hacks Udon are compared to the original artists, and how much of a bad idea it was to put comic book artists to do the artwork for a video game.
>>155587651>Part of Willis’ chip on his shoulder over Dreamwave was that it basically overshadowed the marvel stuff at the time, which the Usenet clique held in higher esteem over the cartoon.True, Dreamwave Transformers and IDW's All Hail Megatron are both basically "Sunbow Transformers but PG-13" and the online fandom was dominated by guys like that who were violently opposed to anything like that, and telling everyone how awful it was.Energon Universe is basically doing the same sort of thing, but times have changed enough that the oldfags who used to dominate Transformers fandom are largely irrelevant by now, and it's the most successful and popular Transformers comic since Dreamwave.
>>155589299Generation 1 released April 2002, The War Within came out October that year.
>>155589387Even though they hated Dreamwave, I assume the autists at the TFWiki are reliable with publication dates, and they list publication order of G1 material as:>March 2002: Transformers Preview>April-October 2002: G1 volume 1 #1-6>September 2002: War Within Preview>October 2002-March 2003: War Within volume 1 #1-6>December 2002: G1 v1 trade with exclusive v2 preview story>April-October 2003: G1 v2 #1-6>April-December 2003: More than Meets the Eye #1-8 (profile books)>September 2003-March 2004: Transformers/G.I. Joe #1-6>October 2003-April 2004: War Within v2 #1-6>January-December 2004: G1 v3 #0-10 (unfinished)>July 2004: Transformers Summer Special>July-November 2004: Micromasters #1-4>September-December 2004: War Within v3 #1-3 (unfinished)>November 2004: Transformers/G.I. Joe: Divided Front #1 (unfinished)
>>155589717They’re still in charge in a way thanks to TFwiki, but DWJ’s art is something closer to the style they like and his politics agrees with them.
Alternate covers.
>>155587914You can see everything else Dreamwave published here:https://comicbookrealm.com/publisher/395/dreamwaveSome of the books started off at Image, I remember Wizard used to shill Warlands.>>155587994Everything used to be on Readcomicsonline, I think. But those days are over.>>155588044It's just supposed to be a victorious big bad guy screaming or roaring in triumph pose, not that he's looking up at something.
Group posters.
>>155590768>Some of the books started off at Image, I remember Wizard used to shill Warlands.I knowEven Udon and Devil's Due began as Image imprints I use LOCG's database>Everything used to be on Readcomicsonline, I think. But those days are over.You can still find all the old scans if you know where to lookThat's not my point I meant getting new scans in better quality periodThe new STC scans weren't the first, they're just a rescan iniative for the sake of preservation but with better image quality and modern scanners
Arcee pin-up.
Pat Lee's sketchbook.
Thanks OPIf you don't mind I'll go ahead and post the Wizard article that kind of started thisJust the Transformers part
>>155589717AHM should have been its own thingIDW's biggest mistake was trying to run an ongoing universe for a decade instead of just starting over when they had a new idea worth exploringin the end they even dragged that Steamformers thing into it for no reason, it's kind of surprising they didn't get permission from hasbro to cross over the Bayformers books as well
bump
>>155585602Are these all in an omnibus somewhere?
>>155593721You should be able to find a TPB of this volume online. I don't think all the released Dreamwave material has ever been collected in one place though.
>>155588029The Marvel comics could get pretty expressive, especially when Wildman was drawing.
>>155587827Bobby Hill is in danger!
>>155590035so G1 did precede War Within?
>>155593988They also looked like humans in box costumes
>>155596401>t. war for cybertron enjoyer
>>155596439Yes.
I have all the floppies of this somewhere. I wish they really would have finished. They introduced the Golden Disk in the last issue (or very close to it) and I was really excited to see where it was going.... did the writers ever say what their plans were for the series?
>>155596401Now I'm thinking of a Transformers tokusatsu series where all the characters are played by actors wearing robot costumes.
>>155598346I know there was speculation that the Dreamwave G1 universe was going to work as the G1 universe that lead to Beast Wars
>>155598346I think Furman has released some of the scripts he wrote for later issues.
>>155597618oof
>>155598651It wasn't just speculation, they themselves added things in hinting toward that direction. The most blatant was in the final issue of the More Than Meets The Eye profiles, where they hinted that the Pretenders technology would eventually lead into the tech that the Maximals and Predacons use, and then ends with a page showing Dinobot and Megatron from BW getting the golden disk
