Look I know some of you love to act like Kirkman is at fault for everything wrong with these series but Jetfire has not been a character in Skybound since *this* happened to him.
[Slight Skybound 30 spoilers under the cut]
Jetfire is another thing that bothers me about Skybound. The plot seems to have no idea what to do with him.
Like, this happens to him (#7), and it's awful and horrible but we don't get to sit with how awful and horrible it is because Jetfire gets appearently destroyed two issues later (#9).
But not really, because ELEVEN ISSUES LATER (#20!) they retrive his frame and you go "oh he didn't actually died okay" but then he appears in that sequence where Optimus is mourning (#23) and you go "oh he didn't make it" and then he gets repaired (#27).
And honestly? This panel alone is the most character he has gotten since issue 7.
"But Stargirl, issue 13-" So, here's the thing: the Ulchtar storyline leaves a big ass plot hole for Jetfire. Why does he call Starscream by that name if he knew him as "Ulchtar"? He should have no idea that he goes by Starscream now. It seems to me like DWJ just put him there to cling onto their relationship in G1.
But whatever more evidence that the Ulchtar storyline sucks, moving on-
I have seen people mad about the bots Kirkman chose to leave with Elita. And though there are some outrageous choices like Jazz, Jetfire is one I can see actually choosing to return to Cybertron. Like, Optimus did some AM shit to him, and you can see that he is still pretty much affected by it. He was pretty much just sticking around because he had no other choice. There's nothing on Earth for him, so when given the choice to leave? Of course he is going to take it.
Do I think it's a shame that Jetfire didn't get to have an interaction with Thundercracker? Yeah, but I don't really care, the same way this comic never really cared that much about him.
Issue 13 was where the cracks in Skybound started to show up for me. I gave the issue some grace when it came out, I wanted to believe that Skybound could pull this kind of story, but we ended up– well, getting what we got.
So, Genvo. What do we know about Genvo?
- He was Starscream's friend
- He was a decepticon
- Optimus Prime killed him
And that's it.
Now, this wouldn't be a problem considering the type of role he is meant to fulfill. Genvo is the loved one that dies, the plot device that motivates the character. You don't need a deep and complicated character for that.
But that's exactly why Genvo bothers me from a narrative point of view. It's clear that the intention of the comic is for us to sympatize with his death, but —if we take away the fact that he is Starscream's friend— there's no actual reason for us to do that.
Take G1 Dion, for example. Obviously your main reason to care about him dying is that he is OP's bestie, but you can also sympatize with the fact that his death is unjust. A simple dock worker, dismissive of the rumors of war he heard, only to die in one of said war's raids. I think it's telling that, while the episode wasn't even expecting you to feel particularly sad about Dion's death, there are still fans that care about him.
But back to Genvo. I find that making him a decepticon was an odd choice. This is not me saying that you can't sympatize with a decepticon, the fandom does that a lot, but the story has to give us a reason to. We don't know why Genvo chosed to be a decepticon. At best we get this, pretty vague stuff that doesn't tells us anything about Genvo or his motives.
(That one friend that wants you to join his cult)
And that's the thing, Genvo is pretty generic. Even the few glimpses of personality we got are nothing that could make you understand why he would want to join the evil guys club™
(He is in an extremist faction that uses violence as a means to gain power but he draws the line at vandalism, I guess)
I believe that he would have worked better as someone without a faction. Someone caught in the crossfire, accidently hit by Optimus, or even targeted because of his red eyes. Then Starscream would have had an actual reason to despise the Autobots, and it would show the violent past Optimus is trying to move from.
I think that was the intention of the death Genvo actually had, but I have a harder time feeling bad for him there because he is a decepticon. He chose to be one! He picked the side that uses violence as a means to an end! Even the last time we see Genvo he is in a raid!
(Look at how happy he is while his team is likely shooting innocents yep truly a guy I should feel sorry for)
Now, one can obviously understand why Starscream is upset that Optimus killed Genvo. Like, even as a decepticon, Genvo was his friend. But then it's never brought up again. Like, if Genvo was this important to Starscream, why is he only mentioned in this issue? Hell, he is not even referenced at the end of the Ulchtar arc. You would think that Starscream would remember the guy that made him join the decepticons in the first place during his last scene, but nope— nothing, nada. But, to be honest, there's nothing in this issue that could make you particularly care about their friendship. Again, it's all pretty generic, I wish we could have gotten more meaningful interactions. (Maybe it could have been possible if the story didn't feel the need to shoehorn Jetfire in there when he was not really relevant at the end but hey we need to cling to G1 don't we?)
So yeah.
I have seen people asking "hey why the fandom doesn't care about Genvo?", and the answer is simply that there's not much to care about. He is Starscream's dead friend and that's it, there's nothing more of him outside of that. Even this comic forgets about him as soon as the issue is over.
And the thing is, I wish that wasn't the case. I believe they could have make something interesting with him if they have tried. Like, if he had to be in a decepticon, why not showing him edging Starscream on, trying to get him into the Decepticons, using his death to be like "See? I told you the autobots were evil". Idk, something!
But no. The comic expected people to care about Genvo just by being Starscream's friend that dies, because that would make Starscream more tragic or whatever and his fans would eat that right up.
And the worst part is that they were right.
(Kudos to Lubo Lullabi for making him look cool in this cover. I like Genvo's design, if that's worth anything, I think that putting his wings on his legs was a cool design choice.)
Btw just because I'm angry at Kirkman doesn't mean I'm going to glaze DWJ
I will give him credit where is due but I'm not praising the author that sacrificed most of his interesting plots to focus on a storyline that ended in the most underwhelming way possible
I told myself to not kick the dead horse any longer but I do feel kind of vindicated when people are like "Skyb0und is no longer good :((" like that hasn't been the case for A WHILE
Spoilers for Skybound 24 and me being a hateful bitch
I need to put my thoughts in order because I swear that I'm not just being a hater for no reason but fuck do I need to rant.
So, I hate the Ulchtar storyline, I have made that clear in this blog. I find that it's probably one of the worst things about Skybound. Which sucks because everyone and their mom think it's the best thing about Skybound, but well what can you do.
Either way, hate. I got the spoilers for today's issue and I was like fucking finally, Starscream is dying and we are not dealing with that shitty storyline in the future! But I also hoped that maybe this storyline was not going to be as bad in the end, that maybe it would show me that I was being too hard.
Lol, lmao even.
IT'S AWFUL, IT'S BAD, IT'S BEYOND ME HOW PEOPLE ARE GETTING SAD ABOUT THIS BULLSHIT
So, Megatron asks Starscream to shot the humans and Beachcomber. He is happily complying, because he likes killing other living beings even if this comic tries to tell you that sometimes he is sad about it and it's all Megatron's fault :((
Whatever, it's killing time!
But, wait! What is that?
Oh, hi Omega Supreme! Nice to see you ig, I wonder what are you doing here-
... No, no way.
This gotta be a joke, right? It can be-
...
Jesus Christ.
So, Starscream (I'm not calling him Ulchtar fuck you) sees Omega Supreme and is suddenly like "oh yes I used to have a different name and didn't like killing people". Which is stupid. Oh my God, is so fucking stupid. I want to scream about how stupid it is. Fuck, it's stupid.
That's all it took? Really? Starscream is about to shot living beings with a big ass smile in his face because again the fucker likes doing this but seeing Omega Supreme is enough to get rid of the mind control and millions of years of abuse that the author reminds you every two panels Starscream is enduring?
Lol
Well, now Ulchtar is back! I hate it!
Thankfully, he is not here for long. He does the best thing he could do and shots himself to be free from this awful storyline!
Since I shit on Ulchtar Skybound so often and unprompted I have decided to make an Ulchtar slander tag so people can mute it or go through it idk have fun
