IDW’s Transformers Beast Wars: Erik Burnham Interview

I'm very confused as to why there are so many people in this thread whose soul agenda is to trash every aspect of the comic and to argue with and belittle anyone who says anything positive about it.

We're 7 issues in. If you're done reading it, then move on. Stop pissing in other people's cheerios.

https://twitter.com/crashtesterX/status/1435039768732217347

On the drawing board … #BeastWars #Transformers #Hasbro #IDWPublishing

supernova222

the base fig is TFA swoop

That's awesome though. Did you make it? Would love to have a file for the beast and bot heads

Dinobot Nuva

Lol wut, that there isn't Nyx hype/interest/art/customs already? It took me two seconds to stumble over a bunch of Nyx, the people interested in this book extend outside of the boards, but go off I guess?

View attachment 28917477 View attachment 28917478 View attachment 28917479

Which figure was that based off from?

https://twitter.com/Transformerspo1/status/1431496808535138306

open.spotify.com/episode/1d9Quh47r8x2JWComDXSYA Hi TF-Fans! Welcome to a new episode of Transformerspodden! The Swedish podcast on Transformers! Todays episode will be in english because today we have a guest! We have the honour to have Josh Burcham with us! @jcburcham

supernova222

yeah well just remember there are plenty of us who enjoyed them and loved ur style   its always the haters that are the loudest but are rarely the majority

Majority? Minority? No, that isn't the issue. Respecting the legacy is the only thing that matters. And that's not just Beast Wars or Transformers. Its also about Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, He-Man. All those long running franchises and many more, with Cowboy Bebop being added to the list just this week of legacies not being respected. I've been seeing a kind of uprising from long-time fans of those properties standing up against new fans and new creators who don't give a shit about the legacy. Deviating from the legacy makes someone the proverbial nail that sticks out.

I don't believe that all art styles are universal that can fit any and all franchises. Some art styles work better for some franchises than they do for others and likewise there are some franchises that certain styles just do not work for. A bad art style for one franchise may be a good art style for another franchise. Beast Wars commands its own specific art style; like the cartoon – doesn't matter that its 25, years old now. Winston Chan, the artist of #7, knew how to respect the Beast Wars legacy and in turn, he deserves respect for doing so.

Josh

Tone gets lost, I'll admit, but I've seen a lot people actively looking for even the smallest things to criticize to prove their dislike for the issues I've worked on. *Shrug*
But I make my tweaks where I can get away with them while still satisfying the need for them to overall resemble their season 1 designs.

As for dinobot, Winston actually drew him battle scarred in 7 before I finished issue 6 so there were bound to be some inconsistencies. I did my best to bring over some of the slashes in his arms and his side and incorporate them into what I was doing but any other differences can be chalked up to "time has passed and some wounds have healed better than others"

yeah well just remember there are plenty of us who enjoyed them and loved ur style   its always the haters that are the loudest but are rarely the majority

SPLIT LIP

And see, that's why the introduction of Skold confuses me. As Necromaster (or was it Coffee?) pointed out a while back, the idea of Skold being loyal due to her insecurities despite the abuse and mistreatment from Megatron would be a great character arch… for Scorponok, who was already a sniveling, grovelling lackey despite his moderate technical know-how. He was clearly not a complete oaf, but when pressured he would break down, start stuttering or talking like a dullard, and fumble basic tasks. (usually if Megatron wasn't around) It wasn't deep, but it was an internal mechanic of the character, and would've worked perfectly for what Skold has been thus far. There really didn't need to be a new character created when one of the existing characters would've worked just fine. Instead Scorponok is now just a goon again, except without the neurotic behaviour.

It just confuses me. They've increased each team by one, yet still don't have the time/material to develop even half of them over seven issues.

I wasn't planning to but now I'm on blast guess I gotta.  

Nah, if it was, it'd be good. Or at the very least entertaining.

In Beast Machines the characters were pressured into new roles and situations and only barely managed to not crack under pressure. (some even did) In this book everyone just acts odd for no tangible reason. Cheetor, for example, grew out of his youthful impetuousness by the time BM rolled around and continued to mature into a more leader-like role. In this book Cheetor does nothing for six issues, then tells us his personality instead of having one.

In BM the characters were massively outmatched and forced to keep relocating because the entire planet was swarming with attack drones. In this book both armies are "comfortably" marooned yet neither army seems especially eager to do much, with even the threat of Energon radiation being virtually non-existent. No desperate quest to merely survive, no attempts to seek out and eliminate the opposition. The Predacons launched one really poorly planned assault that accomplished nothing and Nyx got lost for an issue. Wheee.

At least in BM they were attempting to visualize a concept which formed the backbone of the show's purpose. The designs were quite literally the blueprint for the heroes' own goals.

And in BM drives the entire plot practically episode-to-episode, unlike the Vok here which show up for no reason, do nothing, and have been completely ignored since.

Rhinox was reprogrammed in BM, here he's just kind of a bitch making catty remarks for no reason. Perhaps he's merely playing devil's advocate, but his choice of words and body language convey a sense of irritation and belittling, like the other characters are just too stupid to see his point of view. If this is working towards Rhinox turning bad it's incredibly forced.

Well shit ya got me there.

Seven episodes in BM had already had character-focused episodes, world-building, delved into the new mythos, and just started moving the main plot forward with Revelations Part 1. In seven issues this book has developed maybe three of its twelve characters, introduced another one, and had no movement of the main plot whatsoever. (unless you count Blackarachnia's arrival but we're not sure just how she'll effect the story and how soon)

Beast Machines is way better than this book. At least Beast Machines had momentum, things happened, and it didn't waste its time and characters. Say what you will about The Weak Component, but that whole episode was development for Rattrap (which had been building since episode 1) and was a big step forward for his character in BM. Nobody has gotten anything near that in this book. Closest is Dinobot, but as I've said before his character development was practically done before the book started. His defecting was treated as a foregone conclusion by the writer, and the story reflected this. Hell, by Revelations Cheetor had already started to question Optimus and removed him from command. Every character had development and their own subplots moving and changing by the seventh outing. I know one issue isn't quite equivalent to one episode, but it's close enough and shows just how little this comic has actually achieved.

Great post.

AutobotAvalanche

This is something I've come to appreciate a lot more on my current rewatch. Even Scorponok, the bittest of bit players, has shades and layers to his character. He pretty much only acts as a plot device for things like the cyberbee or as a goon, but the writers went out of their way to flesh him out anyway.

And see, that's why the introduction of Skold confuses me. As Necromaster (or was it Coffee?) pointed out a while back, the idea of Skold being loyal due to her insecurities despite the abuse and mistreatment from Megatron would be a great character arch… for Scorponok, who was already a sniveling, grovelling lackey despite his moderate technical know-how. He was clearly not a complete oaf, but when pressured he would break down, start stuttering or talking like a dullard, and fumble basic tasks. (usually if Megatron wasn't around) It wasn't deep, but it was an internal mechanic of the character, and would've worked perfectly for what Skold has been thus far. There really didn't need to be a new character created when one of the existing characters would've worked just fine. Instead Scorponok is now just a goon again, except without the neurotic behaviour.

It just confuses me. They've increased each team by one, yet still don't have the time/material to develop even half of them over seven issues.

Nope

I look forward to seeing a Split Lip rebuttal to that.

I wasn't planning to but now I'm on blast guess I gotta.  

Verno

Ohhhh, of course. It's a Beast Machines comic book:

Nah, if it was, it'd be good. Or at the very least entertaining.

Verno

None of the characters act like themselves

In Beast Machines the characters were pressured into new roles and situations and only barely managed to not crack under pressure. (some even did) In this book everyone just acts odd for no tangible reason. Cheetor, for example, grew out of his youthful impetuousness by the time BM rolled around and continued to mature into a more leader-like role. In this book Cheetor does nothing for six issues, then tells us his personality instead of having one.

Verno

It's slow and boring

In BM the characters were massively outmatched and forced to keep relocating because the entire planet was swarming with attack drones. In this book both armies are "comfortably" marooned yet neither army seems especially eager to do much, with even the threat of Energon radiation being virtually non-existent. No desperate quest to merely survive, no attempts to seek out and eliminate the opposition. The Predacons launched one really poorly planned assault that accomplished nothing and Nyx got lost for an issue. Wheee.

Verno

The designs are strange

At least in BM they were attempting to visualize a concept which formed the backbone of the show's purpose. The designs were quite literally the blueprint for the heroes' own goals.

Verno

A god-like force is introduced in the first episode

And in BM drives the entire plot practically episode-to-episode, unlike the Vok here which show up for no reason, do nothing, and have been completely ignored since.

Verno

Rhinox turns out to be a bad guy

Rhinox was reprogrammed in BM, here he's just kind of a bitch making catty remarks for no reason. Perhaps he's merely playing devil's advocate, but his choice of words and body language convey a sense of irritation and belittling, like the other characters are just too stupid to see his point of view. If this is working towards Rhinox turning bad it's incredibly forced.

Verno

An annoying bat character has been introduced for no reason

Well shit ya got me there.

Verno

That explains why it sucks. It all makes sense now.

Seven episodes in BM had already had character-focused episodes, world-building, delved into the new mythos, and just started moving the main plot forward with Revelations Part 1. In seven issues this book has developed maybe three of its twelve characters, introduced another one, and had no movement of the main plot whatsoever. (unless you count Blackarachnia's arrival but we're not sure just how she'll effect the story and how soon)

Beast Machines is way better than this book. At least Beast Machines had momentum, things happened, and it didn't waste its time and characters. Say what you will about The Weak Component, but that whole episode was development for Rattrap (which had been building since episode 1) and was a big step forward for his character in BM. Nobody has gotten anything near that in this book. Closest is Dinobot, but as I've said before his character development was practically done before the book started. His defecting was treated as a foregone conclusion by the writer, and the story reflected this. Hell, by Revelations Cheetor had already started to question Optimus and removed him from command. Every character had development and their own subplots moving and changing by the seventh outing. I know one issue isn't quite equivalent to one episode, but it's close enough and shows just how little this comic has actually achieved.

Ohhhh, of course. It's a Beast Machines comic book:

• None of the characters act like themselves
• It's slow and boring
• The designs are strange
• A god-like force is introduced in the first episode
• Rhinox turns out to be a bad guy
• An annoying bat character has been introduced for no reason

That explains why it sucks. It all makes sense now.