IDW Transformers: Windblade #6 Review

Synopsis
BEAST WAR! On EUKARIS, the colonists are more than just robots in disguise—they're whole new breeds of Transformers! But while WINDBLADE and STARSCREAM struggle to gain allies on this brave new world, an ancient power seeks to force them off the planet!



Story

As the Velocitron arc ends, probably much too quickly even for its thematic elements, we venture to yet another colony, another part of the storyline, and yet another Titan in the ever-growing Transformers IDWverse, as Mairghread Scott delves into a Beast Wars tribute via planet Eukaris.



And indeed a Beast Wars tribute it is. Scott made no secret of her admiration and attachment to that particular era of Transformers fiction, even when we interviewed her (here), and those elements seep in quite naturally into the Onyx Prime-devout Eukaris inhabitants, outcasts, tribes and in-betweeners included.



The main plot, however, is Windblade's dealings with the beastformers, and how Cybertronians are perceived and received by them after the incidents of Galvatron's times back in the pre-Expansion period. And I'll admit, I particularly enjoyed the small moments between the single characters, and each of their voices, though everything felt a little too fast for a single issue.



There are plenty of subplots, too, with Starscream's machinations playing alongside Velocitron and Eukaris, and Rattrap not really revealing everything he knows to Windblade - perhaps too many subplots at time, even. The issue's main thread needed something entirely different to really set in, perhaps, even with the reactions of the various characters being reinforced and re-established. Plus, one or two of the conclusions are very satisfying.

Art

Corin Howell continues her art duties, on both line/pencilwork and inks, and brings a lot more Animated into it. If you've followed so far you've seen it already, but there are some explicit moments and references - along with some unfortunate minor inconsistencies in designs - that bring out the other most popular animation models of the TFverse.



Thomas Teyowisonte Deer brings to the show what some might find jarring in Howell's style (though not myself), by making sure that what is glorious about the art comes across as definitely so. The wider shots and panels, the contrasts between darker and lighter tones and scenes, the more active panels versus the diplomatic ones - it all comes together beautifully with the linework.



The lettering by Tom B. Long is wonderful, and there are some excellent noises that go along with Howell's style that I believe are both entirely suited and adding small tidbits of relief and contour, and some good Blackarachnia personalising. We have also seen most of the covers up to this point, with the stunning main Priscilla Tramontano one (thumbnailed), a savage variant by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente, and yet another adorably apt RI variant by Agnes Garbowska.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Is this a bad issue? No. Not by any means. It does, however and unfortunately, suffer from a condition that several Transformers books seem to have caught of recent - a feeling of the story being rushed. Not sure why, not sure due to what, and definitely not sure of whether this is a result of Scott's multiple work commitments or the ending of the ongoing as it turns into Till All Are One in the new year.



That said, there are some wonderful references to the entire run of Beast Wars in here, as well as some moving moments for the new status of characters we are still coming to understand. As a writer who grew up with that era, and as a reader who did the same, the issue is full of smile (both of mirth and sadness), smirk and chuckle moments if you know where to look.