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You thought we had forgotten about the creative side of Seibertron.com? Think again! It's time for the Transtopia Round-up! We have rounded up all we could find in Transformers featuring in customization jobs, creations, fanart, comics, paints, builds, stickers, WIPs and more, with a lot of Titans Return showing up by now, and all collected below for ease of browsing. If you like what you see, make sure to also comment on the original thread, and send the author some robo-love.
THE HELP DESK
Have any tips on how to fix and tighten the TR Galvatron's figure hips? You'd be helping out fellow Seibertronian Z3ROHour! Leave your comments over in their thread.
Synopsis
THEY CAME FROM MICROSPACE! What terror reaches through the tendrils of entropy into our universe—and why does ROM want to kill it? Meanwhile, M.A.S.K.’s MATT TRAKKER makes a startling discovery about the TRANSFORMERS—but will G.I. JOE’s SCARLETT believe him?
..does it really matter?
Story
Is this review a week late? Yes, yes it is, my apologies. I'm sure that whoever was wanting to read the third issue in the core story of Revolution has done so already - if you're a fan of any of the other franchises involved, make sure to check Tigertrack's guide to who this book might appeal to here - but nonetheless, we have a series to follow, a rep to maintain, and finally a spare afternoon to catch up!
DRAMATIC RECAP CONCLUSION
And, admittedly, there's not that much more that can be said as we hectically stumble across the midpoint in the story, really. There was some brief discussion at Seibertron HQ, and the points raised are essentially the same as for the previous two issues: a lot of new material, a lot of old material reused, not enough space, time, or any other dimension to allow it to fit properly.
..or aliens, sure
If, on one side, the Micronauts are finally close to finding out the much larger world out there - i.e. here - the fact that they are now part of that wider universe also waters down the charm that the title had kept while operating more or less on its own. They have yet to properly interact with the rest of the IDWverse, but I'm dreading what might happen at this point.
Like, literally anything
The biggest sore note in Barber and Bunn's script, I'm sorry to say, is still GI Joe - and in particular, Scarlett. They have been proven incompetent, non-existing, pointless, replaceable, and the result? They're all angry, or sassy, or mouthy, or angry caricatures of the already tropey ensemble that they risk to be given the nature of their original characterisation.
Art
Much like the previous two issues, Fico Ossio's art has some wildly swinging reactions, in terms of consistency, in terms of clarity, in terms of getting the newly developed designs (which I still like!) to shine on the page instead of just making them flashier and bolder. Again, it's a shame, because the style can really work if taken at a slower pace and more neutral layouts.
Oh, Kup
Similarly on the colours: Sebastian Cheng does some excellent work with lighting, and shades of different colours according to light sources, environments, characters and adding some sheen and chrome where it really can work - but I can't help but feel that sometimes it's just a little too vibrant, tripping into flashy for flash's sake.
Best example of *everything* or what?
I also still have nothing else to add to the stellar work - that follows suit from the previous two comments - that Tom B. Long does on the lettering, not only following the visual narrative, but helping out with character and voice establishing too. And as for the covers, there are at least 8 variants (the thumbnailed one by Brandon Easton), and they're all worth a look, for sure! Make sure to check them out where you can.
Thoughts Spoilerish ahead
As I said above, I have very little to add to previous comments that staff have made about the book, in the previous two reviews. If anything, we now have virtually all players on board for the ride, so it can only move forwards from here - with the final two issues, somehow. A lot of story, a lot of characters, a lot of patience to keep up with something that is not as engaging as it really wants to and deserves to be.
Me, keeping up
I am actually going to say, though, that one of our comics readers on staff made an extremely good comment on the boards, and I'll use it to close off this review. Kurona, take it away:
it feels like some sort of labour of love; some well-intentioned fans of these series who wanted to do something awesome and bring them all together in some ultimate universe of great team-ups and diversity and all around fun. But then they had no clue how to do it and hastily ended up writing something really generic and disappointing.
This is what it feels like to me. Like someone had a really great idea and was really excited to do it but fell short at executing it. I can't say I feel rage at the guys behind this; just... a lot of pity, honestly.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Best Personal Weapons
This is actually a list inspired by a request from Seibertron's own Rodimus Prime, the first request I ever got. What I tried my best to do with this list was have a strong link between how special the weapon is in toy form and in the fiction and how it's associated to the character. It was tricky but I am very satisfied with this list, even though I didn't include Optimus Prime's Ion Blaster. So of course, there will be a lot of varying opinions.
Armada Starscream was a major update from the G1 character and a very different interpretation. One of the biggest changes was making him more of a master swordsman and this was reflected in his sleeker look and the need to incorporate the sword theme in his toy. One of his wings could actually become a sword!
The sword motif became such an important component of the character at the time that the first Masterpiece Starscream toy took influence from this change in the character by integrating sword sheaths in the design. When a new version of the character was released in toy form for the generations line, the swords were also the biggest change and update between the toys. Instead of having his wing become a sword, Hasbro found a way of storing not one but two swords under his wings for a more complete swordsman look in robot mode.
This is just a really fun weapon that is perfectly associated with the character. He's a flying dog and thus has feathered wings. And in robot mode his largest feathers become swords, or batons, and they still look like feathers. And that effect is perfectly recreated in the toy. It's such a unique weapon for this big softy!
The G1 Springer toy was pretty smart to not only have the helicopter transform into a car and a robot but to have its propeller transform into a sword for the robot. Not only did it simultaneously reduce kibble in robot mode while being able to store the weapon in alt mode by being part of the transformation, but it also made for a pretty cool weapon. Since then, Springer has been linked to that sword. The triple changer generations update of Springer kept that very same motif and the propeller sword looked even better than ever. It's a little engineering marvel on that toy. The Springer release that really seals the deal in terms of his association with his sword is the GDO retool of Hunt For The Decepticons Tomahawk. That's because unlike a standard retool of changing the colour and the head, but they also added a sword to the package, made just for him.
I don't know if anyone predicted this would be first but when this topic was brought up by fellow board member Rodimus Prime, my first thought was this entry, the number one spot: The Chainguns of Doom. The Beast Wars toys were made before the show and thus the character model was based off the toy with some changes, and his personality was totally different than the brutish beast depicted in the toy's bio and tech specs. Instead, Beast Wars Rhinox was a calm and gentle giant, as well as the backbone of the team. However, the toy did come with a pretty cool weapon that was assembled using four components hidden all throughout the beast mode such as chains, a saw blade and a motor. While this badass weapon may have conflicted with the kind of character he was initially portrayed to be, it made for a greater impact when the showrunners had Rhinox use not one but two of these weapons on the show as part of his main artillery. He may be calm and strategic but he would not stand for tyranny and understood that you needed to cover your friends sometimes, by using giant machine guns with chains and spiked balls attached to them. Not only did he have a big brain but he had the firepower to go with it, helping him protect his friends and all he held dear. The Generations figure updated him to finally be the right size, as well as making him more accurate to how he looked like on the show including, you guessed it, giving him TWO chainguns of doom!
You know, I didn't think of this at first. All these other weapons could be wielded by others and usually have 5 mm pegs. But with Megatron, that fusion cannon is just fused to the guy. It's an extension of his body and what he unleashes his immense firepower from. It is probably the most powerful weapon (bar the Matrix) and definitely the most personal one. Also far more iconic than Optimus' black rifle, personal opinion of course. And now, here is a showcase of the many interpretations, enjoy!
If anyone cares, I was going to put Optimus' Ion Blaster here but I changed my mind. Even though I have my fair share of Optimus toys, which include his blaster, I never really liked it with Optimus. It feels so impersonal and partly uncharacteristic, and it was never a great looking or distinctive gun. It's just a big black gun that this wise and honourable emissary of peace (which is what he's been portrayed as in recent attempts to carry on G1 fiction) carries around with him. Would he really use a big gun to just blast someone's head off?
Well, the third Bay movie answered that quite well. BUT though his actions are hard to debate (there isn't much subtlety to Optimus murdering a defeated Sentinel Prime), I found it really interesting how he did it using Megatron's gun. You see, that giant impersonal gun is something Megatron would have lieing around and suits him far more than Optimus. My favourite part of all this is how this whole scenario played out in the toyline. This big shotgun in the pictures below did not come with the Megatron toy in the Dark of the Moon toyline (for the film this scene comes from). It didn't come with Optimus either. It actually came from the next movie's toyline (Age of Extinction), three years later, even though it was never featured in that film. And it came as Optimus' gun without any mention of Megatron, even though it is compatible with the old Megatron toy (see the pictures). So not only was that murder scene fans were up in arms about reinforced by cementing Optimus' connection with this giant shotgun, but it could also now be reenacted three years later with official Hasbro merchansidise. This gets the number 5 spot because it's just such an odd choice to go the extra mile in adding to Optimus' connection with this weapon and this attitude of his, even though it's uncharacteristic of the character to begin with. In the end, it's pretty awesome how this all played out.
In lieu of Takara Tomy's upcoming Transformers Movie reissues to celebrate 10 years of the Transformers Movie live action film franchise, it really got the wheels turning in my head. As a fan of the movie toys, there are a few holes in my collection that Hasbro or Takara Tomy never fulfilled. So I thought it'd be interesting to see which figures some of you think need new decoes or even better yet (in my little fantasy world) all-new brand new figures.
Maybe this time around they get a proper paint job or a premium deco? Or imagine if they're more-or-less to scale (say it with me everyone -- big ass Dinobots!!!!)? Maybe it's a character that didn't get a proper toy (i.e. Dino/Mirage) or didn't get a proper figure altogether outside of a 1-Step (i.e. Stinger)? Or maybe scale was a thing to you so you wanted a Leader Class Bonecrusher to reenact the scene where Optimus Prime rips his head off. Or maybe Movie 1 Megatron or ROTF Megatron needs to be remolded or given a new figure to better take on the absolutely amazing ROTF Leader Class Optimus Prime. Or even better yet ... how about a proper triplechanger Drift?
With all of that said, I thought it'd be interesting to have a discussion with some of you about this. Toss your ideas out here. If you're not into the movies, please sit this one out. Just looking for people who like the movie toys and feel like they didn't get something they really wanted from the movie toy lines over the past decade.
Without further ado, please share your ideas in our on-going discussion on our forums!
Synopsis
ROM—A MURDERER?! That’s what OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS think—and right or wrong, there’s only one outcome: all-out war! Meanwhile, G.I. JOE turns to the one person who can save the world from ultimate destruction—MILES MAYHEM!
See? Absolute Mayhem
Story
If the first issue of Revolution - reviewed by Tigertrack here - showed where the ubersharedmashup universe crossover event would find its flaws, the second issue in the run is still not able to pick up the good bits for long enough to satisfy a regular reader of Transformers. Bear with me...
..as I puma reviewer hat on
As Rom the SpaceKnight provides the catalyst for the event, and even though Micronauts is probably doing a better job at connecting the wider mythology so far, even with just one issue (see my review of the other titles involved here), the insistence on the 'everyone is the bad guy of someone else's story' is really not landing yet. Yes, the Dire Wraiths are creating confusion, and Miles Mayhem is clearly furthering his own goals, but still, something feels very much off.
why can't we all just get along
Where John Barber and Cullen Bunn do have a knack for stories and dialogue - and we know the continuity skills of Barber are second to none, especially with the IDW Transformers-verse, so there is plenty to play around with for the both of them - unfortunately though, there just isn't enough space right now, and where they instead tend to shine is in the other titles that make up the event as a whole, at least at this point in the game.
Kup gets it
With that in mind, some of the interactions, especially between human and non-human factions, feel stilted, sometimes even forced - notable example is the MASK introduction, too short, too contrived and underplaying a potentially meaty development, in concept and story; also, the opening dialogue with the Joe team, and the decimate incident - with the best part of the book only coming towards the very very end.
Art
I do not dislike Fico Ossio's work, in any way at all. The designs for humans and robots, robots in particular, are visually stimulating, intriguing, and a new direction which I approve of for something so flashy like a franchise crossover. They're bold. But therein lies a flaw: the emotive aspect of non-organics in particular suffer from the linework of the rest of the character. Arcee and Windblade, and to an extent Kup, particularly feel this.
Exactly
The colours still fit that 'HEY YOU LOOK AT THIS BOOK AIN'T IT COOL' vibe that IDW has been relying on for the crossover, in its multiple covers and big previews across major entertainment news sites too, and Sebastian Cheng does very good things with the vibrancy chosen - though I can see how some might find it too 'light' in some scenes.
This, however, is a very cool shot
Regular Transformers veteran letter Tom B. Long has a heck of a job keeping the dialogue and sounds at bay - and that last word is actually a totally unintentional pun for the amount of explosive fontwork that we find in the book: the explosions and loudness are very much present all the way through. Commendable indeed that it is this clear!
As for the covers, there are so many variants offered, as is to be expected from such a wide-scale project, that I am not sure I can master up enough words to mention them all. Make sure you do look out for them though, as there are some true gems in there, from Christiansen and Guidi, to Easton and Baltazar, via toy and minimal variants (see thumbnail by James Biggie), there is bound to be something to appeal to everyone.
Thoughts Spoilerish ahead
I will follow the event through to its end, but what I see so far is not entirely convincing as a way to get older fans of the Joe and Transformers franchises hooked for long enough to warrant the arrival of three new properties. Book-wise at least. Where Bunn and Barber do work well, still, is within the smaller titles that lead into this wider crossover, unfortunately.
Scarlett also gets it
That said, the building of the world around Revolution, both through reusing parts of the more cosmically inclined lore of the Transformers, or the making things align in the Microverse parts of the story. Visually, my issues are outlined above, but it is not a bad looking book, at all! And overall, we do have a slight improvement with the wider cast now fully present in the line-up for the event - here's hoping to the next three issues finally able to lift off the ground in the scale of what the premise has promised comics readers.
. ½ out of
Bonus Content: A handy reference guide from Tigertrack, which still fully applies two issues in!
Who should try this?
Casual 80’s childhood guy or gal all grown up: Hell yeah! You’d probably get a kick out of this with Transformers, GI JOE, ROM, ACTION MAN and coming up… Micronauts, and MASK! My childhood hath been brought back alive again! If only VISIONARIES would make an appearance! Ore-13 won't mean anything to you, but you don't need it to.
IDW Transformers Familiars: You may be a bit more hesitant. 'Our guys' are a focus for sure, but we’re not quite sure how they will come out when this all shakes out, and there was a lot of awesome stuff to like going on before this. They are the elder statesman and most successful comics of the bunch, and readers are not interested in losing the awesome ground that we have gained over recent years. There seem to be inconsistencies with current comic continuity, but not so huge that it can't get cleaned up. AND... we do get this ORE-13 thing to finally seem to finally, finally, shake out in full, so there's that!
IDW GI JOE Familiars: You may just feel good that GI JOE is coming back, again, but are probably frustrated that GI JOE is coming back, yet again, seemingly rebooted, yet again (I’m not as good and up on my IDW GI JOE). I feel very badly for hardcore JOE fans. I really hope this helps to get them the great fiction that they deserve (and hopefully more of a toy line too).
OTHERS: Tons of action! Aliens, robots, human elite army operatives, and end of the planet Earth peril, plus some cool new sophisticated TECHIE vehicles. Recognizable big name characters. Sounds like a try out to me! It reads like the big boys crossovers so far, with satisfactory art, I'd give it a go.
I received my first delivery yesterday morning, so I've decided to pen a little review for you lucky people.
I'll start off by saying that I've bought the full subscription, with the intention of continuing to see this through right to the very end. I currently have a DeAgostini 'Build the Millennium Falcon' subscription that'll be finishing up in December, and this is half the price of that, so it'll fill that gap quite nicely. This means I'm entitled to get the 5 free subscription gifts, and issue #3 free. I started my subscription with issue 1, so I'll be receiving the first of the free subscription gifts with my second delivery.
The contents of my box is follows:
1 copy of volume 6 - Target 2006 (Marvel UK)
1 copy of volume 36 - Stormbringer (IDW)
1 leaflet
I was surprised here, immediately, as I was expecting to get both a book and a magazine for each issue. The book being purely the comics, and an accompanying magazine for each with all the features mentioned in the ad. In actual fact, these features are all contained within the volumes themselves. I'm a little bit mixed in my feelings on this, having them interspersed with the story is a little invasive, but not so invasive that they're placed in the middle of the stories. It also helps that the features are usually tied directly to the main stories as well, so rather than digging out the magazine and then matching volume, it's all in the one place. I do feel that the books would benefit from a contents page however, as it's difficult to find where specific issues and features are within the books, but seeing as this would've required printing numbers on the pages, I can see why they avoided this.
The leaflet details much the same as what was on the website, but with a nice little added bonus which I was not expecting: it folds out into a massive poster of some beautiful painted '84 G1 promo art. The artwork in question is a really interesting a curious piece as it features Bluestreak and the Constructicons in their Diaclone colours, along with a neat little cameo by a police decco Lamborghini, which I assume must be Clamp Down? He's missing the super-charger engine to be police-streaker. At any rate, this picture is a relic in itself of a time very early in the brand's history, before the character models, and toy colours were finalised. I'm going to have a real hard time finding a frame big enough for this bad-boy, but it is definitely going up on the wall.
Onto the books themselves. I'm immediately impressed by the size of them. They're large, thick, hardback volumes much bigger than the glossy, floppy collected edition volumes I'm currently used to collecting. The paper inside is of a nice thick matte finish stock, that has sort of a waxed paper feel to it. The construction of them is definitely of a level of quality that exceeds expectations. This, for me, instantly justifies the price of admission, as it works out at about £10 each, free delivery, for each of these, fortnightly. So £20 a month if you're paying by direct-debit.
The cover art is a little plain, but it's uniform across the volumes. Featuring one character prominently, with faded out image below the title featuring art from the pages of the comics within that particular volume. It definitely helps to tie the volumes together as one coherent set. The wide spines also help deliver the large mural-style artwork shown a bit more coherently as well.
It's important to mention a particular detail of the spines at this point, the numbering system. You won't get Volume 1 first. The books are arranged in order of original printing. That means Getting Target 2006 and Stormbringer for the sake of story and era diversity across the collection gives us Volume 6 & 36 respectively. It also means if you're in it for the long run, you won't see the spine art slowly printed sideways across your shelves, rather, it'll appear in slivers and slowly fill out over the course of 120 weeks.
Moving on to the content. The quality of printing in the books is flawless. I'd wondered if they'd attempt to create a stepped colour print, giving that sort of misaligned layers feel that the colours of the original comics might have had in hand. But no such nostalgia bombs here. Everything is clean and crisp. Incredibly, we not only get the full story advertised on the cover, but we also get bonus issues in the mix. Target 2006 contains the original Marvel UK #78-88 run of that story-line, as well as including Marvel US #21-23. We even get a few of the non-story pages from the original comics, for example 2 full page biographies on Ultra Magnus and Galvatron. Stormbringer collects that miniseries, along with the Spotlight issues for Soundwave, Shockwave, Hot Rod and Nightbeat. This starts to explain a little bit of the thickness.
I must mention that also included are newly coloured stories, which have only ever been printed in black & white before, only, I'm not quite up to scratch with my education in the Marvel comics, so I couldn't tell you which ones these are. I would have thought they'd stick out like a sore thumb, but either, there are none in these 2 volumes, or every effort has been taken by the colourist to make sure that the new inks match the style and tones of the original colourists.
As for original features, Vol. 6 Gives us and introduction with a little information about the goings on behind the scenes at Marvel UK at time of original print and a cover gallery of all the issues contained within. Then we get a few pages of editorial on Transformers the Movie, which actually includes a review written by Grimlock from when he was still running Grim Grams, back in the day. We also get a few brief character profiles of the full original wreckers line-up and finish up with another 3 pages on the history of Marvel UK and a short spotlight on Marvel UK artist Geoff Senior.
Vol. 36 has an introduction written by Simon Furman, an editorial on the creation of the IDW universe, then a whole lot of pages from inside the sketchbook of Don Figueroa, showcasing character models and alt modes he designed for the early IDW run.
There's a lot here. A whole bunch. In terms of what you're getting for your money, these volumes are above and beyond value, and I heartily endorse it to anyone who's on the shelf to at least give the first issue a shot at the trial price.
Howdy fellow Seibertronians and welcome to another round of the Seibertron.com Transformers Photo Challenge. Every challenge has a theme and suggested guidelines to follow. To participate, just post your pictures in the discussion below. The TFPC is just about having fun and is for all skill levels. Previous challenges can be found here.
It's time to put down your instructions and get creative, the theme for this challenge is fan modes. Fan modes are basically transformations created by fans (fanformations?) that can range anywhere from simple modifications of the official transformation to full blown new modes that were never intended. While other fan modes can be crazy mashups that defy faction alliance logic. Below are a few examples to stimulate the grey matter.
Generations Nightbeat has several fan modes in both bot and alt mode.
Fall of Cybertron Blaster can be configured to resemble a Cybertronian Boombox.
Reveal the Shield Strafe and Hunt for the Decepticons Sunspot can be combined to give Strafe a powered up almost samurai appearance.
These are just the tip of the fan mode iceberg. It's time to put on your thinking caps because, we challenge you to setup your bots and show us what you got
The new IDW Publishing cross-franchise event REVOLUTION is not limited to ROM the Spaceknight, the Transformers and G.I. Joe, though the latter two are probably the biggest players so far and the foundation of the setting, and the former was reintroduced into the IDW universe almost explicitly for and due to the event. Other licensed properties are part of the mix, with M.A.S.K., Micronauts and Action Man taking a little slice of the action for themselves too!
This occasional feature on Seibertron.com is a one-off (three-off?) write-up on those other titles that don't fall under the robots categories, so you may go find more comics if you like what you see. The reviews are brief, with an eye to connecting them to the wider story and what readers might enjoy coming from a Transformers perspective, so please keep that in mind. [For an alternate and more systematic look at how Revolution is currently working out, see ScottyP's comics FAQ here!]
With order then...
Micronauts #1-#6, Revolution #1
Cullen Bunn, whom regular comics readers will undoubtedly recognise from several Marvel and other titles, dives deep into the Microverse, reigniting a spark in a very very old and dormant fire that not many may have remembered. However, he does so with such gusto and charm, even in the obnoxiously 80s patina that most of these properties have, that you can't help but chuckle at the interactions and overt cheese of some of the scenes. The Biounits, Acroyears, names - they just made me giggle so much, reading them in 2016. At the same time, Baron Karza is beautifully nuanced as a villain, and actually has a good characterisation through the Revolution book itself.
Bonus: Direct and unexpectedly good link to Cybertronian lore. Ties up with Transformers franchise in general, with things discussed in Titans Return, and with the covers teasing
Malus (but not really): The cheese. The name Shazraella.
M.A.S.K. Revolution #1
As it hasn't had enough time to go anywhere significant, there's not really too much to say about this one-shot comic - if not that it's probably the most played down and yet the most direct in terms of how G.I. Joe and Earth in general are planning to respond to the Cybertronian contingent and the perceived threat that Optimus's annexation of the planet to the Council of Worlds constitutes for, well, us. Written by Brandon Easton, with visuals from Tony Vargas and Jordi Esquin, the book is a crisp if slightly by the numbers origin story of the Kommand at the hands of Miles Mayhem, building to some interesting dynamics with the Joe envoy Scarlett. And then, it just... stops. Which is a shame. (But will start/continue in November as its own series!)
Bonus: Ego trips all over the place.
Malus: Ego trips all over the place.
and ROM the Spaceknight #1-#3, Revolution #1
(takes place in between issues. maybe. possibly. or before.
Currently running through three issues of its new ongoing series, with Chris Ryall and Christos Gage at the helm, the return of the Solstar order knight had a very promising beginning, with a bit of a plateau after the second issue hit. With a giant team taking control of the art, there are some really sweet spots visually too, but sometimes the story just doesn't hit the right beats enough to hold it all together.
Bonus: The designs (Wraiths and Rom in particular) are fantastic, and the book is the one that will providing the biggest cohesive for the various threads and titles so far, with its planet/universe wide conspiracies.
Malus: May not be one to follow too closely if it doesn't catch you immediately, and it does have a lot of Ryallisms (compare: Onyx), but that may be your thing!
Seibertronians, it is time. It certainly has been a journey full of ups and downs, curves, and many, many problems. But like all other journeys this one must come to an end. The curtains are starting to close. It is time. Time to review the final episode of Machinima's Combiner Wars series.
We start with Windblade. She is floating in a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-style afterlife dream sequence. A voice wakes her. She realizes it belongs to metroplex. He tells her that the titans have been listening to her thoughts, and don't like the anger they've seen within them. Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
She apologizes for what she's done, but the titans remind her of who she truely is. She wakes up again on cybertron, because death means nothing.
And then, and then!!As if being able to take down a Combiner with a swipe of her sword or stop a friggin' BLACK HOLE WITH HER TURBINES wasn't enough for her, Windblade gets to take complete control of Metroplex! Awesome potential there for a entertaining story, right? Well... It's just his arm...That's it.
Yes, that's right. Metroplex's arm makes a surprise appearance for some reason.
Friggin' called it! Well, sorta
A quick note: Starscream's...well...screams are absolutely horrendous. Nearly unwatchable. They sound like some tormented demon baby.
Windblade smashes the titan's limb onto starscream, grabbing hold of him so Prime and Megatron can have a clear shot.
Now comes one of the top five moments in the series: Megatron turns into a gun. Yes, not only does this Megatron have a gun mode, but he's a triple changer. There's something for everyone to enjoy. I seriously, SERIOUSLY, love this Megatron. Awesome!
Prime arms himself with Megatron, taking that one final shot at Starscream, destroying him.
Optimus checks on Windblade, and is surprised to learn she's still alive. Megatron approaches with the (somehow still intact) enigma of Combination. Seriously though, if an explosion of that caliber couldn't destroy it, I find it unlikely that anything Optimus or Megatron could do would. But then again, maybe Windblade can pull out another Dues Ex Machina magic power and destroy it single-handedly.
Megatron, Prime and Windblade have a quick conversation about what to do with the Enigma, and Megatron literally mentions how he's "more than meets the eye", as the entire audience participates in a collective eye roll.
Har har har
It's decided (by pretty much just Windblade) that the Enigma belongs to the combiners, and it's presented to Victorion. She does this weird chest-merge thing with it, sort of like the Matrix of Leadership, but more gross.
The council finally reappears for one last time, just long enough for Windblade to tell them that the Titan's have returned.
But then! Just when you thought it was over, we're teased with a shot of what is presumably Fort Max's head. Yep. Seriously.
Pfft. As if.
Well, I'm sure we'll be seeing that half a year after the Titan's Return toy line ends.
And that's it. That's the end. Of the whole thing. Some final, final thoughts:
I'd like to look at pros first before I get to my usual thoughts, because I feel that the good things about this series have been kind of trampled by the band wagon hate. I'd like to bring some of those good things to a greater light.
Pros:
The art style:
Although it does occasionally have its problems, the animation and art style are very visually pleasing, and have a great feel to them. The character models are new, but inspired, and suit each character well. I know it's very attractive to many fans to have toys that look like they just came off the screen, and vice versa. This delivers tenfold in that front. You almost couldn't get closer in some cases.
The color pallets used are very attractive, rich, and occasionally stunning. Like this! I want this framed!
It's very beautiful sometimes, and is a highlight of the series. I wish it would have given us some more landscape shots, where this could have really shined.
Another positive would be most of the voice acting. Megatron, Starscream and Prime are done extreme justice here, and Rodimus and The Mistress of Flame are good most of the time, save for one or two lines here and there. I also don't mind the voice of Metroplex, Devastator, or Victorion. These are all well done, and, as I've said, did great with what they were given to work with.
Speaking of Megatron, I'm not exaggerating when I say that if this isn't one of my favorite incarnations of the character, it's by far the most interesting. I love every aspect of him. He's voiced perfectly, his personality is spot on, and his triple-changer ability satisfies the TankknotGuun camp and the GuunnotTankk camp, which, in my experience, is pretty damn near impossible. Boy, Machinima, you got a lot of things wrong but when you get something right you get it right!
Outstanding job. A+.
And that brings me to my thoughts. I don't hate this series. I don't. I just don't like it, either. The middle of the series was enjoyable, good, above par, even by standards set outside of the series. But the beginning was an absolute train wreck, and the ending was a textbook Dues Ex Machina situation. I feel that if it had just done a handful of things differently, it could have been unprecedentedly good. And hey, maybe if a Titan's Return series does happen, they'll take some of the criticism in stride and make it what I know it has the potential to be.
And that is it. All eight episodes, all eight weeks. I have to say that while the programme wasn't always enjoyable, these reviews were. I hope that you all had as much fun reading them as I had writing them. And while the Combiner Wars have indeed ended, who knows, maybe I'll review Another series some day. Thanks for reading my rants and rambles, it's been a ride, for sure, and a pleasure!
Wanna relive the journey? All of the episodes are available now for free on Go90 and Machinima's YouTube channel.
And, as always, thank you for keeping it tuned to seibertron.com, your best source for Transformers news (and reviews!) on the net!
Welcome, Seibrtronians, to the Combiner Wars Review Extravaganza! In a celebration of the Machinima Combiner Wars series and it's conclusion, I'll be posting episode 7's reivew and then, later today (or potentially tomorrow), I'll share my review of the finale (along with some final final thoughts) as well! It'll be one big day of celebration and thanking primus it's over. Let's look at Episode 7.
We open on Cybertron once again, and see Starscream has finally formed into his "Combiner Combiner" mode. Megatron takes a shot at him, but is thrown across the city, smashing into a building.
While Optimus runs to Megatron, Starscream deals with the amount of power he posses. He envelops him, and he explodes. Bits of the various combiners are thrown across the landscape, and a piece of Computron tries to take out Prime. Ah, Geez, Rick, what are we gonna do now?
Starscream emerges from the rubble, now only a ball of Galactic Glitter Glue with a head, and launches some missiles(?) from his shoulders(?) at the city below. Optimus and Co. dodge the incoming debris, as Starscream starts making a black hole, sucking all of his loose parts in. Pictured: Starscream
He "throws" the black hole at Optimus and Megatron, but here comes Windblade, saving the day again with her Turbine Attack, which can apparently stop the force of an inverted star.
Huh.
Never knew. I...I hate this episode
Windblade follows this up by rushing the literal Screaming Star, while he shoots what sounds to be lasers trying to connect to dial-up internet out of his mouth.
If they lasted any longer, you would have started to hear the Windows XP boot-up noise, too
Windblade is somehow able to block the large, continuous beams of pure energy with her thin sword, but is finally taken down by a lightning blast from Starscream. She falls, many stories, and lands on the ground. Optimus and Megatron have a moment to mourn her before Starscream jumps at them, Screaming and laughing. I...I really hate this episode
Okay, Final thought time:
Why? Why? You had potential here, those couple of episodes in the middle of the series were great, compared to what has come before and after them. Why make Starscream's plot a cliche Starscream plot? You already had one of the most interesting Megatrons we've ever gotten, why couldn't you have left Starscream be and have one of the most interesting Starscreams we've ever gotten? I want you to challenge my perception of what I already know about these characters, or I want to be pleasantly surprised with a interesting continuation of what I know and love. This series can't decide which of those it wants to be, so it fails miserably at both. It's not a good new idea, or perhaps just poorly executed, and it's not a good continuation of the same old same old. What is it trying to be? -gasp- Father! Please! Help!
I think this series could have been good, (heck, it could have been great) if it would have picked a lane. As it sits, it comes across as a slapped together mess, with 0 pacing and no cohesive, understandable plot until halfway through act 4. And even then it makes no sense.
If your going to go back on your set idea of different, more civil, changed Starscream, give him a viable motive. He is literally already one of the rulers of Cybertron. He couldn't climb the latter more if he tried. He even said how he convinced the public to trust him. He's where he wants to be! Where he's always wanted to be. Why would he ruin that? Why? To be continued
Tune in later today/tomorrow when we continue our celebration and conclude the series with the review of episode eight!
And, as always, I'm the Nostalgia Critic, I remember it so you don-wait, wait, no. Wrong thing.
Ahem
And, as always, keep it right here, on seibertron.com for all your latest Transformers news (and reviews!).
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Casual 80’s childhood guy or gal all grown up: Hell yeah! You’d probably get a kick out of this with Transformers, GI JOE, ROM, ACTION MAN and coming up… Micronauts, and MASK! My childhood hath been brought back alive again! If only VISIONARIES would make an appearance! Ore-13 won't mean anything to you, but you don't need it to.
IDW Transformers Familiars: You may be a bit more hesitant. 'Our guys' are a focus for sure, but we’re not quite sure how they will come out when this all shakes out, and there was a lot of awesome stuff to like going on before this. They are the elder statesman and most successful comics of the bunch, and readers are not interested in losing the awesome ground that we have gained over recent years. There seem to be inconsistencies with current comic continuity, but not so huge that it can't get cleaned up. AND... we do get this ORE-13 thing to finally seem to finally, finally, shake out in full, so there's that!
IDW GI JOE Familiars: You may just feel good that GI JOE is coming back, again, but are probably frustrated that GI JOE is coming back, yet again, seemingly rebooted, yet again (I’m not as good and up on my IDW GI JOE). I feel very badly for hardcore JOE fans. I really hope this helps to get them the great fiction that they deserve (and hopefully more of a toy line too).
OTHERS: Tons of action! Aliens, robots, human elite army operatives, and end of the planet Earth peril, plus some cool new sophisticated TECHIE vehicles. Recognizable big name characters. Sounds like a try out to me! It reads like the big boys crossovers so far, with satisfactory art, I'd give it a go.
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