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[Tigertrack]

“LEAVE NO AUTOBOT UNCRUSHED!!!”

The final issue in the first story arc of IDW’s Transformers Ongoing comic series does pretty much what you would hope it would do. Motivations are revealed, and we have an ultimate climax of situations as we follow up last issue’s cliffhanger of good ol’ Swindle ready to have Menasor... CRUSH ALL THE AUTOBOTS!

Credits for this issue's creation go to:

Written by: Mike Costa
Art: Don Figueroa
Colors by: J. Brown with Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by: Chris Mowry
Editor: Andy Schmidt
Associate Editor: Denton J. Tipton

Last Issue:

The stunticons were reunited, Ultra Magnus confronts the Autobot/Decepticon group, and Spike has a heart to heart with Optimus Prime about why the giant robot surrendered to Skywatch.

This Issue:

The relationships and growth of characters that has happened in the IDW books seem to really become evident as recent events in Spotlight Prowl, TRANSFORMERS Bumblebee, and of course, TRANSFORMERS Ongoing have finally come to fruition.

What I liked:

The action is fun. Pure and simple, metal-mashing robots. Lots of gunplay, and some nifty dialogue make this, if nothing else a fun read. If that’s why you like Transformers, pick this issue up to see some ‘SMASHING’ being done.

...But there is more...

Thundercracker makes an important step that I think many will find helps his character to grow even further toward what IDW has set up for him. But does it seem a step too far? Will he be allowed to be a Decepticon anymore? Does he even want to be?



Bumblebee goes Goldbug and grows up...Bumblebee Prime??? The BUMBLEBEE miniseries dragged us through a painful four issue process of Bumblebee becoming more confident, and better able to lead the Autobots. He steps even further into this role thanks to Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, and Rodimus, but now seems to embrace it.



Optimus Prime, even though confused himself, still uses his reputation to inspire and build confidence in the other Autobots.



The humans finally wise up. Well, Spike as a leader wises up. I actually like the human element realized in this issue. Spike comes down from his pedestal a moment to reflect upon his actions and how his immaturity has cost others. The idea that not everything is black and white finally hits him, and he also grows from it, realizing that he perhaps has a greater duty than he has been taking responsibility for previously.

And FINALLY they realize that there are good Transformers and bad Transformers, and they might be able to work with good ones to help them in their efforts to stop the BAD ones.



The art was very well rendered and images were excellent in quality and detail. Great movement and emotion shown in the figures in the pages, Don really shows his stuff with fantastic detail.

What I didn’t like:

SPOILER!!!!Optimus Prime has to save the day SPOILER!!!
(Even though he gets the ideas from another person who gets them from someone else). It seems to come about too easily. But you know, it’s fiction, so things like that can happen. It also seems just too easy of a choice for Spike to make to get Optimus back in the mix.



Rodimus the cry baby. Okay it’s harsh to say that, but of the characters who have grown and changed the most over this story arc, I think his character has taken the biggest step backwards. It seems inconsistent with where he was in TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT HOT ROD, the -ation series, and even in MAX DINOBOTS...what happened? Why ignore the treatment that you had set up for a character to totally change him into another? What purpose do the writers have for him? Some will like how Hot Rod has been written, and others won’t.

Some would also say the same thing for Optimus Prime. His character perhaps has taken a step backwards as to what he started out portrayed as in the IDW-verse. But is it to show just how complicated this new situation is, and just how much it DOES effect even the 'great' leaders? That answer is coming, hopefully.



Thundercracker seems a bit too goody-goody. Again, is it a change for the better, or worse? Will readers be happy with it, or not?

The art style still has me wondering. It is beautifully rendered most of the time, but the faces still are at times hard to accept, read, or recognize. The humans seem to be to me, the opposite...not very detailed or realistic looking in their features, most of the time.



I also wonder what in the world they are going to do with such a large cast of robots now that the rosters of Bumblebee and Ongoing have merged. Will the Season 1 robots still tend to take the spotlight as they usually do, or will we see others stepping up and being used and explored more?

Pick this issue up for yourself as it wraps up the first TRANSFORMERS story arc, and sets the table for what will be happening next in the series. Check out the five-page preview here!

TRANSFORMERS #6 hits comic stores tomorrow!

[Darth Bombshell]

Rodimus the cry baby. Okay it’s harsh to say that, but of the characters who have grown and changed the most over this story arc, I think his character has taken the biggest step backwards. It seems inconsistent with where he was in TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT HOT ROD, the -ation series, and even in MAX DINOBOTS...what happened? Why ignore the treatment that you had set up for a character to totally change him into another? What purpose do the writers have for him?

I'll answer the questions in the order they were given.

-They gave the job of writing the Ongoing to Mike Costa, who has spent the past six issues showing how little he knows Transformers, and how little he paid attention to the stories that came before. His idea of homework appears to have been sitting down with Shout's DVD set and watching all 98 episodes.
-Because it not only shows how little Costa cares about what came before when it comes to other writers, it also shows how little he cares about what came before that he actually wrote. One gets the feeling he started writing the story with one direction, then just decided to do something else later on.
-Well, the only purpose I can divine is to show why he should be taken off the ongoing post haste and the assignment given to an actual writer.

[wraithlord86]

Congratulation Mike, you completely manage to destroy Hot Rod in IDW verse.

Furman finally made a Hot Rod who was likable, cool, a bot who wouldn’t leave his brothers behind even when ordered to.

But you had to play the whole Rodimus Prime/incompetent leader card that ruined the character in S3/S4 in G1 .If it didn’t work back then why the hell did you think it would be a good idea to use it now? If your intent was to make him a cry baby then give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

I really hope,IDW start getting writers that actually read the previous issues, the character,canon that HAS been established instead people like McCarthy and Costa who just seem to write and rewrite thing as they like.This isn't your personally fan fiction.

[YoImLegend]

I'll come right out and say Hot Rod is my favorite Transformer of all-time.

But. I'm not as put off by this "move" in Hot Rod's personality. There's got to be a reason he's acting like this, and its got to be within his personality. As it was with Prowl, he's still the same guy, as shown in what I thought was a brilliant spotlight, he just perceives things differently, and responds to situations in ways he might not have before due to the 3 year gap between All Hail Megatron and the Ongoing. If Costa didn't give a care for any of the IDW Transformers, then there might not have been a 3 year gap between these two stories. This new ongoing probably would have taken place directly after AHM with what would be static changes in all of the characters. I respect Costa's desire to move the story in a new direction, and I believe that there are no better means than how he is doing it.

Most of all, I'm just excited to see what Hot Rod wanted so badly to get off the planet for. I just know there's gotta be a reason beyond "freedom."

[YoImLegend]

BTW, big WELCOME to WraithLord86!

[Darth Bombshell]

Congratulation Mike, you completely manage to destroy the IDW verse.

Fixed.

[YoImLegend]

Congratulation Mike, you completely manage to destroy the IDW verse.

Fixed.

...seriously? This is all it took??

[Chaoslock]

Just read the issue... and...

Congratulation Mike, you completely manage to destroy the IDW verse.

Fixed.

QFT.

For Xaarons sake, Optimus has to jump in and save the day, and the beaten-to-pulp Swindle and the constructicons manage to escape...
Costa managed to make a cheap Knockoff of the Bayverse from the IDWverse.

I want Shane McCarthy back. At least he copied the G1 cartoon, not Bayverse.




Next picture: Ultra Magnus takes his gun and blows Bumblebees head to pieces.

[MYoung23]

Prime didn't necessarily save the day. He helped. He gave them a plan.

Hot Rod's ego has been crushed. He has always been so confident and cocky (I mean, who else would surf meteors down to a planet?). He was wrong, he failed and he found out that he isn't as great as he thinks he is and is now doubting himself probably for the first time which is why after the battle with Menasor he was sitting off by himself with his shoulders slumped.

[Hairball178]

Hot Rod will hook up with whatever Wreckers are left, Arcee, maybe some Dinobots, and some post-movie Autobots. He'll also get the Matrix and come back to earth to pick up any Autobots who want to leave, and it'll lead to a big Autobot vs. Autobot fight.

[Menbailee]

I found the conclusion very satisfying, and I'm enjoying the character work for Thundercracker, Hot Rod, Bumblebee, and even Prowl.

I only started reading Ongoing a few days ago, when Costa visited a friend's shop for free comic book day in Chicago. Cool guy--I wish I'd read his stuff previously so that I could've asked more informed questions. "Hey, this is actually good," I commented to my girlfriend on the way home regarding the first issue. She does not generally read comics, much less Transformers, but she wound up reading this whole series with me. She found the story and characters crisply portrayed, and I agree.

People aren't static. They don't always keep making the same kinds of decisions, especially when the world they've known changes around them. What happens when the war is over? For the first time in a long time, I feel as if we're seeing a genuinely different story out of the Transformers, not just a rehash of paths already trod.

Neither Bumblebee nor Hot Rod is incompetent, but neither has much leadership experience, especially in a world with the war over. Both take big risks in trusting a previous enemy. Hot Rod takes the bolder risk, and in keeping with his overconfident nature he does so prematurely, but in the long run it's the risk the Autobots need to take. "Rodimus" might yet turn into the leader the antebellum Cybertronians need.

For the time being, I enjoy Bumblebee in his new role. His miniseries was painful, but it's fun to see the little guy who can win people's trust take charge.

The most disappointing part of the comic for me was the preview page hinting at Megatron's return. Stay dead, Megatron. Stay dead, Ironhide. Stay dead, Sunstreaker. Let actions have consequences. Let the chips lie where they fell. Don't bring the same old, same old back. We've seen writing that has the courage to shake the status quo. I hope it sticks to that.