Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Review

[Sonicron]

Over the years TF canon has undergone some changes - this is one of them. Grimlock and his team were known as the Lightning Strike Coalition back on Cybertron; powerful fighters, but loose cannons.

Prior to this game, the elite Autobot commandos that comprised of Grimlock and Co. were called the Dynobots.

I don't know what their story was for the original marvel comics, where I know they existed on Cybertron, but I have no idea how they came to have dinosaur modes.

First time I hear about the 'Dynobots' name. You got a source?
The first time I saw Grimlock (but no other bots from his current team) was as a rebellious Autobot sub-commander, and later leader of the Lightning Strike Coalition in Dreamwave's "War Within" comics; his alternate mode was a tank.

 

[The Human Torch]

It is weird Sludge was Killed, he was given a dino form and new robot form in some concept art, it's strange they made that and didn't use it =\

Well, we do see both forms in the game... just not as moving parts xD

As for similarities to the Prime series, that makes sense, given the fact that both the Cybertron games and the Prime series have been declared official canon and hence have to tie into one another.

Actually, the robot form we see is his original form, if you look on concept art his chest is red, however in the game it looks completely different, he never made it to Shockwaves lab.

I had a sad when I found out that Sludge was killed. I still have him as a toy. Godspeed Brontosaurus robot, Godspeed. /salute

 

[The Human Torch]

Over the years TF canon has undergone some changes - this is one of them. Grimlock and his team were known as the Lightning Strike Coalition back on Cybertron; powerful fighters, but loose cannons.

Prior to this game, the elite Autobot commandos that comprised of Grimlock and Co. were called the Dynobots.

I don't know what their story was for the original marvel comics, where I know they existed on Cybertron, but I have no idea how they came to have dinosaur modes.

First time I hear about the 'Dynobots' name. You got a source?
The first time I saw Grimlock (but no other bots from his current team) was as a rebellious Autobot sub-commander, and later leader of the Lightning Strike Coalition in Dreamwave's "War Within" comics; his alternate mode was a tank.

The Dreamwave canon is kinda seperate from the official story-line. Even though Hasbro took plenty of pointers from Dreamwave.

So yeah, in another version they are also called Dynobots. Same alternative Cybertron modes as the Lighting Strike Coalition though.

 

[Draconalis]

First time I hear about the 'Dynobots' name. You got a source?

It's from the current comic makers, IDW. Though they were referred to as the 'Dynobots' in War Within as well.

They appeared chronologically later in The Transformers: Spotlight issue on Shockwave, having, as in other continuities, defected to the Autobots. In this stand-alone tale, the Dinobots (here, as in the War Within, referring to themselves as "Dynobots") sought revenge on Shockwave for a past incident involving his destruction of an Energon cache that they had stolen?and nearly them with it. Being denied a chance for revenge by Optimus Prime, the Dynobots went rogue and tracked Shockwave to prehistoric Earth, where he was ensuring that seams of rich Energon that he had seeded took root. Unable to survive in the Energon levels on the planet (reminiscent of the problem facing the Maximals and Predacons in Beast Wars), they adopted techno-organic dinosaur modes and teleported down to Earth to engage Shockwave. Despite their determination and ferocity, their own impulsive nature would prove their undoing; the concept that the Dynobots could have followed him for simple revenge. Shockwave shut down his higher logic functions, allowing him to single-handedly devastate the Dynobots. He would not enjoy his victory for long?Grimlock had set the weapons on their ship to fire on their location, exploding a volcano and burying all combatants in lava.

The above is also my personal favorite origin story for how the Dinobots got their Dinomodes.

The Dreamwave canon is kinda seperate from the official story-line. Even though Hasbro took plenty of pointers from Dreamwave.

They certainly did have some good takes on the franchise though... Sadface to them going bankrupted.

Also... for a "It's it's own continuity" thing... War on Cybertron certainly felt like War Within, the game.

 

[Sonicron]

First time I hear about the 'Dynobots' name. You got a source?

It's from the current comic makers, IDW. Though they were referred to as the 'Dynobots' in War Within as well.

They appeared chronologically later in The Transformers: Spotlight issue on Shockwave, having, as in other continuities, defected to the Autobots. In this stand-alone tale, the Dinobots (here, as in the War Within, referring to themselves as "Dynobots") sought revenge on Shockwave for a past incident involving his destruction of an Energon cache that they had stolen?and nearly them with it. Being denied a chance for revenge by Optimus Prime, the Dynobots went rogue and tracked Shockwave to prehistoric Earth, where he was ensuring that seams of rich Energon that he had seeded took root. Unable to survive in the Energon levels on the planet (reminiscent of the problem facing the Maximals and Predacons in Beast Wars), they adopted techno-organic dinosaur modes and teleported down to Earth to engage Shockwave. Despite their determination and ferocity, their own impulsive nature would prove their undoing; the concept that the Dynobots could have followed him for simple revenge. Shockwave shut down his higher logic functions, allowing him to single-handedly devastate the Dynobots. He would not enjoy his victory for long?Grimlock had set the weapons on their ship to fire on their location, exploding a volcano and burying all combatants in lava.

The above is also my personal favorite origin story for how the Dinobots got their Dinomodes.

The Dreamwave canon is kinda seperate from the official story-line. Even though Hasbro took plenty of pointers from Dreamwave.

They certainly did have some good takes on the franchise though... Sadface to them going bankrupted.

Also... for a "It's it's own continuity" thing... War on Cybertron certainly felt like War Within, the game.

Just read up on it too. Sounds like a barrel of laughs. ^^

Yeah, at the time I was devastated about DW going under... still sore over never getting to see War Within Vol. 3 finished. War for Cybertron's plentiful resemblances to War Within are among the many reasons why I love that game.

 

[The Human Torch]

First time I hear about the 'Dynobots' name. You got a source?

It's from the current comic makers, IDW. Though they were referred to as the 'Dynobots' in War Within as well.

They appeared chronologically later in The Transformers: Spotlight issue on Shockwave, having, as in other continuities, defected to the Autobots. In this stand-alone tale, the Dinobots (here, as in the War Within, referring to themselves as "Dynobots") sought revenge on Shockwave for a past incident involving his destruction of an Energon cache that they had stolen?and nearly them with it. Being denied a chance for revenge by Optimus Prime, the Dynobots went rogue and tracked Shockwave to prehistoric Earth, where he was ensuring that seams of rich Energon that he had seeded took root. Unable to survive in the Energon levels on the planet (reminiscent of the problem facing the Maximals and Predacons in Beast Wars), they adopted techno-organic dinosaur modes and teleported down to Earth to engage Shockwave. Despite their determination and ferocity, their own impulsive nature would prove their undoing; the concept that the Dynobots could have followed him for simple revenge. Shockwave shut down his higher logic functions, allowing him to single-handedly devastate the Dynobots. He would not enjoy his victory for long?Grimlock had set the weapons on their ship to fire on their location, exploding a volcano and burying all combatants in lava.

The above is also my personal favorite origin story for how the Dinobots got their Dinomodes.

The Dreamwave canon is kinda seperate from the official story-line. Even though Hasbro took plenty of pointers from Dreamwave.

They certainly did have some good takes on the franchise though... Sadface to them going bankrupted.

Also... for a "It's it's own continuity" thing... War on Cybertron certainly felt like War Within, the game.

I have all the Dreamwave and IDW Transformer books, as they are so nicely written. It's such a big shame that both companies bit the dust, even though Dreamwave suffered from corrupt management, last I heard was that most of the artists and writers involved with Dreamwave never got paid.

I always wondered how the story would move on, as millions of years later, humans dig out Shockwave and the Dynobots. This would bring the story back to the original G1 story, where Shockwave was already on earth before Megatron and would eventually even kill Megatron in a coupe. In almost every iteration of the story, Shockwave was a traitor, and in Fall of Cybertron he is fiercely loyal to Megatron, I am still in shock over that.

 

[Draconalis]

Just read up on it too. Sounds like a barrel of laughs. ^^

Yeah, at the time I was devastated about DW going under... still sore over never getting to see War Within Vol. 3 finished. War for Cybertron's plentiful resemblances to War Within are among the many reasons why I love that game.

I'd like to recommend the IDW comics to you... but they are getting rather Jump the Sharkie... and I'm not sure how I feel about where they are taking the story.

I always wondered how the story would move on, as millions of years later, humans dig out Shockwave and the Dynobots. This would bring the story back to the original G1 story, where Shockwave was already on earth before Megatron and would eventually even kill Megatron in a coupe. In almost every iteration of the story, Shockwave was a traitor, and in Fall of Cybertron he is fiercely loyal to Megatron, I am still in shock over that.

The humans captured ravage and lazerbeak, and tried to turn them into essentually mindless command obeying slaves. Then Soundwave, whom was stuck in alt mode, used his soundwavy ability to distrupt the signals and free them. They tried to do the same thing to the Dinobots... whom they already KNEW something might go wrong with... and Grimlock broke free of the controls... then stomped Skorpinok's face... if I remember correctly. Then Ultra Magnus arrested him for abandoning his post 4 million years prior. But Grimlock accepted all the blame, so his squad could remain free. Then no word on Grimlock till this month actually... 3 in comic years later.

P.S. IDW didn't go under and is still making Transformers comics monthly.

 

[The Human Torch]

The humans captured ravage and lazerbeak, and tried to turn them into essentually mindless command obeying slaves. Then Soundwave, whom was stuck in alt mode, used his soundwavy ability to distrupt the signals and free them. They tried to do the same thing to the Dinobots... whom they already KNEW something might go wrong with... and Grimlock broke free of the controls... then stomped Skorpinok's face... if I remember correctly. Then Ultra Magnus arrested him for abandoning his post 4 million years prior. But Grimlock accepted all the blame, so his squad could remain free. Then no word on Grimlock till this month actually... 3 in comic years later.

P.S. IDW didn't go under and is still making Transformers comics monthly.

I remember Grimlock waking up and then going on a rampage and duking it out with Scorponock.
And didn't Soundwave get bought by a human, because he thought it was rad to have a retro cassette-deck.

Hmm, I really thought that IDW went downhill as well. For a time they were not releasing ANY Transformers comics, with the exception of the Micheal Bay Transformers movie inspired comics. Which I avoided, obviously. I gave up on IDW during that.

 

[Sonicron]

I'd like to recommend the IDW comics to you... but they are getting rather Jump the Sharkie... and I'm not sure how I feel about where they are taking the story.

Just saw they've got hardcover collections of the IDW comics, currently numbering 7 volumes. So much want... but no money. *sigh*

 

[Draconalis]

with the exception of the Micheal Bay Transformers movie inspired comics. Which I avoided, obviously.

You and me both... I'm not a fan.

Just saw they've got hardcover collections of the IDW comics, currently numbering 7 volumes. So much want... but no money. *sigh*

Well... Everything up to "All Hail Megatron" was amazing... thne AHM happened... and it was like "da fuk? Is this an AU?"

Then it was canon... and the follow up took place after it... and I have no idea what the hell happened... so many holes in the story.

It started to get better a bit... except for the first like... 5 issues of the ongoing series, the art went for the bad... it was overly detailed and ugly... just like a Bayformer... and then Optimus had a mouth for a panel...

So many bad things happened after AHM...

 

[Winnosh]

People also seem to forget that Even the cartoons were just another version of the characters and not even the first. In the Marvel comics which started out first, then ran alongside the show, and finally when the original show ended still kept running. The Dinobots were an Autobot strike team from Cybertron that stole a Decepticon ship and followed Prime and the Ark to Earth.

 

[Winnosh]

If you go back to the toy profiles Even they use the Comic backstory instead of the cartoons which is why the Dinobots have medium to high intelligence ratings on the toy tech specs.

 

[Sonicron]

-snip-

I actually read All Hail Megatron... I kinda liked it.
Also, I got one of the covers (Megatron standing triumphant with Prime's head on a pike) as a A4-sized poster signed by the artist; a friend of mine got it at a convention and gave it to me last year as a birthday present. ^^

 

[JdaS]

If I read the faq correctly there's minimal Soundwave gameplay and no Shockwave at all. Unfortunate. Still, looking forward to playing this, especially the multiplayer with its deeper customization options and whatnot.

 

[saintdane05]

Guys... all of you up there which I'm to lazy to quote...


IDW is in a sperate continuity than the G1 comics and Cartoons. Fall of Cybertron is not in G1 either. Rather, it is in the Aligned continuity, which puts it in the same place as the total awesomeness known as Transformers Prime.

<youtube=GnJPWqN5h5M>

Ignore low quality footage.

 

[Jeralt2100]

Guys... all of you up there which I'm to lazy to quote...


IDW is in a sperate continuity than the G1 comics and Cartoons. Fall of Cybertron is not in G1 either. Rather, it is in the Aligned continuity, which puts it in the same place as the total awesomeness known as Transformers Prime.

<youtube=GnJPWqN5h5M>

Ignore low quality footage.

Hasbro sortof insists that everything from War for Cybertron forward would be part of an 'aligned' continuity, but if you listen to the video interviews with Matt Tieger from SDCC he says flat out that their game is a G1 prequel and has absolutely nothing to do with TF Prime, aside from taking the look of Cliffjumper's head from that show and Hasbro forcing them to make Bumblebee a mute <which he was not in War and they didn't want him to be in this game either. That was a Hasbro call> In fact, both of High Moon's games heavily contradict TF Prime in major areas that are not reconcilable unless the major characters all undergo a lobotomy prior to the events of the show.

TLDR? In short, the aligned continuity is Hasbro's idea. High Moon wrote a retelling of the G1 backstory and Hasbro has tried to shoehorn it into Prime, doesn't fit.

Oh, and @JDaS, you're correct. Soundwave has two short segments. Shockwave is a story element, mostly gives exposition.

 

[charliesbass]

I've never cared for Transformers at all, I haven't seen the Michael Bay movies, nor did I buy the toys or watch the cartoons, so I approached Fall Of Cybertron as an outsider. It's just a dull third-person shooter with some needlessly complicated variety. The writing is bland, the enemies aren't distinct from the background, killing robots isn't as satisfying as killing squishy organic life forms, and the Transforming thing is basically just a gimmick. Maybe I would of liked this more if I played War for Cybertron, or cared about the Transformers universe prior.

 

[saintdane05]

Guys... all of you up there which I'm to lazy to quote...


IDW is in a sperate continuity than the G1 comics and Cartoons. Fall of Cybertron is not in G1 either. Rather, it is in the Aligned continuity, which puts it in the same place as the total awesomeness known as Transformers Prime.

<youtube=GnJPWqN5h5M>

Ignore low quality footage.

Hasbro sortof insists that everything from War for Cybertron forward would be part of an 'aligned' continuity, but if you listen to the video interviews with Matt Tieger from SDCC he says flat out that their game is a G1 prequel and has absolutely nothing to do with TF Prime, aside from taking the look of Cliffjumper's head from that show and Hasbro forcing them to make Bumblebee a mute <which he was not in War and they didn't want him to be in this game either. That was a Hasbro call> In fact, both of High Moon's games heavily contradict TF Prime in major areas that are not reconcilable unless the major characters all undergo a lobotomy prior to the events of the show.

TLDR? In short, the aligned continuity is Hasbro's idea. High Moon wrote a retelling of the G1 backstory and Hasbro has tried to shoehorn it into Prime, doesn't fit.

I know. But still, it actually starts to be sort of connected by season 2. The main contradiction is in designs and Dark Energon.

And also, Prime was made using the same production bible as WFC, so that may help.

 

[Jeralt2100]

Guys... all of you up there which I'm to lazy to quote...


IDW is in a sperate continuity than the G1 comics and Cartoons. Fall of Cybertron is not in G1 either. Rather, it is in the Aligned continuity, which puts it in the same place as the total awesomeness known as Transformers Prime.

<youtube=GnJPWqN5h5M>

Ignore low quality footage.

Hasbro sortof insists that everything from War for Cybertron forward would be part of an 'aligned' continuity, but if you listen to the video interviews with Matt Tieger from SDCC he says flat out that their game is a G1 prequel and has absolutely nothing to do with TF Prime, aside from taking the look of Cliffjumper's head from that show and Hasbro forcing them to make Bumblebee a mute <which he was not in War and they didn't want him to be in this game either. That was a Hasbro call> In fact, both of High Moon's games heavily contradict TF Prime in major areas that are not reconcilable unless the major characters all undergo a lobotomy prior to the events of the show.

TLDR? In short, the aligned continuity is Hasbro's idea. High Moon wrote a retelling of the G1 backstory and Hasbro has tried to shoehorn it into Prime, doesn't fit.

I know. But still, it actually starts to be sort of connected by season 2. The main contradiction is in designs and Dark Energon.

And also, Prime was made using the same production bible as WFC, so that may help.

Some of the backstory is the same, some is different, and the designs I could understand evolving in the millions of years between the stories. Dark Energon is a pretty massive contradiction though. A mythical, incredibly rare substance at the beginning of TFPrime which few have even heard of, and literally the power source for every single Decepticon after Megatron restarts its production in War.

Oh, forgot one other thing they took from Prime. The updated Nemesis design, although that shape is the same one they used in Beast Wars too.