IDW Transformers: Combiner Wars - The Transformers #40 Full Preview

If that's the artist rendition of Menasor, I could only hope something like this is Swindle's file photo.

That cover.

Talk about mass-shifting - look at the scale of that foot compared to the 'bots underneath.

Holy crap, somebody remembered Spotlight: Mirage! And it's actually canon now, finally free of its muddied status.

My interest in this series shot up about 30% with his inclusion and new-found foresight.

I was pleasantly surprised with the last issue of Combiner Wars. The story ended up going in a direction I was not expecting.

This looks even more intriguing. I can't wait to see what role Mirage is going to play in this story.

legundir wrote:That cover.

Talk about mass-shifting - look at the scale of that foot compared to the 'bots underneath.

Yeah I understand why artists love to overscale the combiners as it makes for a much more imposing presence. I never really got into that. According to that cover, if Mixmaster were to change to robot mode he'd still be well over twice the size of any regular size Transformer.

I must say, for all the crap I give Ramondelli for his art, the man does have his moments. Those Combiners look like proper NIGHTMARES in that dream.

On this note, it appears as though not only is Spotlight: Mirage finally having implications, but also the final member of Ultra Prime is making his way to Cybertron. Ironhide is there, Prowl is coming via spacebridge and Sunstreaker most likely stayed behind when the Lost Light launched a second time. Rook is probably also on Cybertron.
I do agree: those combiners look absolutely frightening in these images. Nice!

I doubt prowl will combine with prime not all the cw toys will make appearances (at least not this year) look at cyclonus, he won't be joining halvatron for a while.

ZeroWolf wrote:I doubt prowl will combine with prime not all the cw toys will make appearances (at least not this year) look at cyclonus, he won't be joining halvatron for a while.

I'm just hazarding a guess based on the toys, that's all. I could be very wrong and there is a fifth member other than Prowl, but we won't know till next month!

ZeroWolf wrote:I doubt prowl will combine with prime not all the cw toys will make appearances (at least not this year) look at cyclonus, he won't be joining halvatron for a while.

Shame, he could have been Prime's right-hand man again.

I think Mirage is coming to Cybertron with the rest of the Protectobots for a Protectobot reason. Eh? Think about it: all five original members plus some dude who just happens to have some bad sounding internal damage, and may possibly need to be rebuilt, and who just happens to be an odd man out among Protectobots.

Zerowolf, darling, agree with me here.

Shuttershock wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I doubt prowl will combine with prime not all the cw toys will make appearances (at least not this year) look at cyclonus, he won't be joining halvatron for a while.

Shame, he could have been Prime's right-hand man again.

I applaud you.

Anybody notice how in that scary picture of the combiners, Devastator (out front) has what appears to be aerialbot arms and constructicon legs? Just curious.

Hot town, scramble in the city. Every other book is dirty and gritty...

Alpha Dominus wrote:

legundir wrote:That cover.

Talk about mass-shifting - look at the scale of that foot compared to the 'bots underneath.

Yeah I understand why artists love to overscale the combiners as it makes for a much more imposing presence. I never really got into that. According to that cover, if Mixmaster were to change to robot mode he'd still be well over twice the size of any regular size Transformer.

In normal context, I fully agree regarding the combiners. However, as cover art,I think Mixmaster here is as much symbolism as scale. Here, he is as much a representation of the weight of the combiner issue as a whole as he is anything else. But i could be wrong.

Alpha Dominus wrote:

legundir wrote:That cover.

Talk about mass-shifting - look at the scale of that foot compared to the 'bots underneath.

Yeah I understand why artists love to overscale the combiners as it makes for a much more imposing presence. I never really got into that. According to that cover, if Mixmaster were to change to robot mode he'd still be well over twice the size of any regular size Transformer.

In normal context, I fully agree regarding the combiners. However, as cover art,I think Mixmaster here is as much symbolism as scale. Here, he is as much a representation of the weight of the combiner issue as a whole as he is anything else. But i could be wrong.

Va'al wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I doubt prowl will combine with prime not all the cw toys will make appearances (at least not this year) look at cyclonus, he won't be joining halvatron for a while.

Shame, he could have been Prime's right-hand man again.

I applaud you.

I, too, add my applause.
This is worthy of a sig quote.

Nemesis Maximo wrote:I think Mirage is coming to Cybertron with the rest of the Protectobots for a Protectobot reason. Eh? Think about it: all five original members plus some dude who just happens to have some bad sounding internal damage, and may possibly need to be rebuilt, and who just happens to be an odd man out among Protectobots.

Zerowolf, darling, agree with me here.

God d....you just blew my mind. I'd much prefer that over anything else.

Va'al wrote:In other IDW Publishing comics releases this week, we have the next chapter of the Combiner Wars event in The Transformers #40 - Chapter #2 (if you exclude Opening Salvo) of the biggest thing to happen to Cybertron, and not Cybertron alone, so far. Check out a full preview below, and come back for a review tomorrow, when more people will have had a chance to read the book!

Transformers #40—Combiner Wars
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
The COMBINERS have arrived! STARSCREAM wrestles for dominance with
OPTIMUS PRIME as surprising reinforcements approach—from the Lost Light!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Tying in with Hasbro’s 2015 Transformers: Generations toy line, this epic will be supported across multiple media platforms!
Combiner Wars Part 2!
Variant Hasbro Combiner Wars poster cover!

Galactus is in combiner wars? stricking resemblance

Synopsis
The COMBINERS have arrived! STARSCREAM wrestles for dominance with OPTIMUS PRIME as surprising reinforcements approach—from the Lost Light!



Story

As we left the Windblade title last time to start dealing with the diplomatic and political aftermath of Menasor's actions on Caminus, and the arrival of Optimus as the Thirteenth (of sorts) - we shift back to The Transformers, with the next chapter in the Combiner Wars event, co-plotted by Mairghread Scott and this issue's writer, John Barber.



Barber's writing in #40 is really quite ambitious, given that it's both an aftermath and a cranking up of the perils that the 'discovery' of Caminus and combiner technology can bring to Cybertronian society, including some older friends which had somehow escaped the wider continuity nets.



Also, he manages to use a fair good dose of humour running through the narrative, interspersing media reports of the events taking place as an unreliable device to comment upon the inner workings of whatever the Cybertron-Caminus representatives are actually discussing. Juxtaposed to some moments of clarity and bringing back to focus and otherwise Optimusisms that instead really hit home - or should.



Meanwhile, in all of this, not just one but a handful of characters, plot away in the background. Not everyone is happy with how things are being handled, of course, we still need to figure out exactly what Starscream's plans are, Prowl may have even more agents around than we thought possible, and I'm sure the Camiens will also have something to say eventually.

Art

Livio Ramondelli takes again the main interiors, and will do so for a couple of chapters now - and in this issue, I had much less to pick out than, say, TF #39. The layouts are really interesting, and some character designs are expected by now (oh hey Leader Starscream). There are some really well executed more organic, or at least not full-on robotic, scenes which makes his art and style shine. Ominously.



The mediatic perspective that Circuit and Starscream bring to the issue also allow for some more creative layouts, or at least an opportunity for both Ramondelli and letterer Tom B. Long to play around with how different characters speak and interact with each other, in some ways. That said, the first page and a bit can be a little confusing in setting name to character, as the order of the boxes does not appear in sync with the art.



I will take a little detour here, as out of the three covers offered with the current issue, one is the regular, Ironhide as Atlas Casey Coller/Joana Lafuente, the secondary is the thumbnailed Livio Ramondelli poster variant - and then we have a lovely take on Menasor from Hasbro's official material, including its games. But no artist credit. The only clue is from the artists themselves, in this case Marcelo Materefor the pencilwork. Hasbro, please credit somehow, somewhere, your artists. Please.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Overall, the chapter that follows a big reveal and a big fight was bound to be a little slower in pacing, but it does so fairly well in what it stops to explore and expand upon, through the art and the story. Fans of early days of RID will remember the style, with a lot of backstabbing, dry humour and snide comments - and some good continuity games, with the added touch of Barber's heightened characterisation post Dark Cybertron and Ramondelli's more visual plays on multiple screens and panels.



Superion and the underlying questions of Gestalt technology are really well done, despite offering no conclusive answer, of course. The Protectobots are introduced neatly, just like the 'new recruits' for the other teams before them, and in a self-aware nod. Ironhide is used a little more, and might play a bigger role again, along with Mirage. It's a good read, and still moving upward in the storyarc.