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Synopsis
You got TRANSFORMERS in my Angry Birds! No, you got Angry Birds in my TRANSFORMERS! ERGH, OOF, MPPHH!!! Hey! Waitaminit! This is actually pretty great! That’s right, comic lovers, two of your favorite IDW comics have morphed into one amazing new comic! When the TRANSFORMERS lose their powerful ALLSPARK, it ends up on Piggie Island and the world of Angry Birds turns robotic! Prepare to meet… the AUTOBIRDS and DECEPTIHOGS!
Philip K. Dick would be hogrified
Story
Before time began, there was the egg. Or maybe it was the bird. The egg, or the bird, what came first..? In any case, there was an egg, and a green pig wanted to eat it. To eat all of them. As they do. Apparently. But the egg was also a cube, and the cube fell, rolled away, and became an egg. With the properties of a cube.
Simples
John Barber is having a lot of fun with the script here, letting puns rip every other panel, juggling multiple identities, continuities, storylines and characterisations that fans of the Transformers franchise of the past decade will recognise, and aiming for a fairly contemporary target (with some nods to older fans too).
Some things never change
There is very little one can do to spoil the issue, but I am not going to simply summarise the story of the comic, and I am actually quite glad something as light-hearted and - simply put - silly as this actually exists out there, reminding fans that kids are into our favourite robots too. And the transition page is really quite clever, verbally.
Art
The comic uses Livio Ramondelli to introduce and frame the story as part of a spin-off universe of the Transformers, something based on modern iterations of the Cybertronians, from Bayverse to Rescue Bots and some added G1 highlights to please a bit of everyone. And it works.
Eggcellently so
The artists who will be gracing the pages of the series from here on, however, are a great addition to my knowledge of visual creators: Marcelo Ferreira has a great sense of visual humour, in facial expressions, character, dynamism and page layout - and the cartoon style art is perfectly apt in tone for the series.
No fowl play here
And of course, all of it catches the eye even more thanks to the wonderful colour work by Nikos Koutsis, making sure all characters jump off the page, vibrantly and energetically, and Chris Mowry's brilliant lettering work, letting himself really go on the fun aspect of the job. Plus, the comic comes with three fantastic covers, that further show off the glorious silliness of the crossover, with Ramondelli, Ferreira and Koutsis being joined by action-packed Jorge Pacheco's variant (thumbnail).
Thoughts
I don't believe anyone was expecting a masterpiece of storytelling or the new rising star of the comics medium, but the issue is a whole lotta fun, pleasingly funny, enjoyably silly and most importantly, never takes itself seriously - something that the IDW Transformers titles can sometimes fall victims of (though less so as series progress).
Angry Bots!
The art is also extremely refreshing, and the framing of the story by a Transformers regular sets the scene nicely for the very cartoony, series-appropriate Ferreira and Koutis approach to the illustration. The lettering is fun, the writing is fun, the issue is, overall a non-serious
Continuing in his mission to review all the simplified Age of Extinction figures, fellow Seibertronian chuckdawg1999 has uploaded yet another video, this time for One-Step Changer tiny purplesaur Dinobot Slug! Check it out below.
When first revealed I was curious how Slug would be adapted into the One-Step line since the deluxe toy was rather bulky. Unfortunately the technique of splitting the head and chest open more often than not leads to the legs getting stuck on the back plate resulting in a less than smooth transformation.
Fellow Seibertron.com user hinesika, who may also be DuoDuoTea has posted some nice in-hand images of the Neon Genesis Evangelion exclusive redeco of Takara Tomy Transformers Masterpiece MP-10 Convoy (Optimus Prime), which was available in limited numbers and for a limited time. If you weren't able to get your hands on this, play Ode to Joy in the background, and take a look at some of the mirrored images below, and head to their thread here for more!
Synopsis
Days of Deception begins with… PEACE AND HAPPINESS! To be honest, there's not much we can say about this issue without giving away the life-changing events of last issue. What we can say is this: everything’s fine. There’s no conflict, no sadness, no angst. Why is this a problem?
..s fine
Story
Timelines have met each other and collapsed. Old friends and lovers are reunited, though something is obviously not quite right yet. Other friends and allies have revealed a different set of colours entirely. And as we explored some of the past events last issue, we delve once more in the days before the Decepticons were a thing - or do we?
Ah, good old days
James Roberts' script is heavy. This is an issue that will require time to spend on reading, rather than a quick skim-through. The play on the different time settings is clearly marked, and cleverly linked, though that is not the critical part of the connection between the two, as what they have in common may in fact be diverging once more, but further away than expected.
Megs channelling Roberts (and readers)
While in the present Megatron finally had a bit of a breakdown aboard the Lost Light, as the rest of the crew investigate Brainstorm's doings (and part of the yellow briefcase's secrets are sorta kinda revealed!), the past sees Rewind and Minimus Ambus dealing with Functionists, and the cunning and seditious Dominus Ambus himself.
Understatement of the Year
Does something feel off yet? It seems like something is a little off. No? Make sure you read *everything* that takes place in the issue, as details are constantly changing, for what seems to be a very good reason indeed in the grand scheme of things, and the upcoming Elegant Chaos event in particular, for which this issue a prelude of sorts.
Art
Alex Milne and Brian Shearer, with the latter helping on inking duties, have some great visual fun, despite everything happening in the script as it already is. A lot of Unicron Trilogy body types have been spotted, without being subtle at all, already in the first couple of pages, and there may be a reason for all of it being there after all. Though character design does not stop at that, with some twisted ..er.. twists elsewhere, too.
Plus a Dredd Bot
On top of the busy script and busy backgrounds, colourist Joana Lafuente clearly had a busy time coordinating all the multiples of the same type of Cybertronian, yet marking them as individual entities (much to the ruling classes' disappointment, one might guess). I am very impressed at the result, especially with the final product in hand.
Where's..?
Tom B. Long keeps on keeping on with the fantastic letter work, making sure to maintain the space that Roberts does not leave to the art, and . The issue also comes with an excellent array of variant covers, on top of the ominous Milne/Josh Perez main one. In the thumbnail is the eerily appropriate Nick Roche/Josh Burcham Functionist, and make sure to keep an eye out for the Andrew Griffith 30th Anniversary special incentive art, too.
Thoughts Spoilerish ahead
It's mind-bendy, it's space-bendy, it's time-bendy - it just pushes the envelope and watches it bend for most of the plotlines being teased up to this point, and some intriguing social commentary to boot. Out of all of this week's releases, this is the most dense and emotionally compromising, without any doubt, so be warned before you dive into it.
Everything is fine
We vaguely know what has happened with the Functionist Council in the past. We've seen something of Brainstorm's character so far. We know what Rewind used to do in the days of Dominus Ambus, and the House of Ambus overall - be ready to have all of that questioned. Again. And again. Elegant Chaos is here.
Synopsis
DRIFT RETURNS! Last year, TRANSFORMERS readers were shocked when DRIFT left the AUTOBOTS in disgrace… and now he’s alone, on a mission to clean up the darkest depths of the galaxy—until RATCHET shows up to try to bring him home!
These guys
Story
Imagine: you're an ex Decepticon, who used to kill people for fun. Then you grew a conscience. So you traded guns for swords (that famous instrument of peace). Then you grew a bit too much of a conscience, and tried burying guilt beneath it and a veil of reborn spiritualism - and by ways of redemption, take the blame for something you didn't actually do, and are exiled. That's where we are with Drift, as Empire of Stone begins.
Right here
It's been some time since we saw him in action, other than flashbacks, and readers have been wary of the return of a character who has been fairly marmite-esque (that's British for divisive). What we find with this first issue back in Shane McCarthy's hands, is thankfully not a return to the character when he first introduced it, though some will complain it can feel that way in places.
Some fan
Compared to other Transformers comics coming out this week, Empire of Stone is a lot slower in terms of narrative, though it does stand up quite well with the dialogue, and the chemistry between sulky Drift and grumpy Ratchet works nicely. And, as a set-up/catch-up issue, it does what it has to do without wandering too much around.
Honestly, these guys
However, that's about it so far. It's not a bad comic, the story can go in a very interesting direction with the next three issues, and Empire of Stone is a catchy enough title for a popular enough character like Drift - but I can see how it might not be on everyone's immediate buying list as yet. Still.. read on.
Art
The art team is really where the book, much like ReGeneration One before it, will gain traction with potential readers. Guido Guidi's linework and Stephen Baskerville's inking are a great combination, and the action sequences are very well choreographed, with the sword element added to the fights gives space to Guidi's art to play around with the space of and around the panels.
...ready?
Also back from the ReGen team is colourist JP Bove, doing an amazingly dusty and gritty (in the soil, dirt sense) job of the patina covering some otherwise quite flamboyant roboformers. I will never tire of looking at Guidi backgrounds filled in with Bove's technicolour magic, and there are some excellent sets in the issue.
Drift in spaaaaaace
Unfortunately, the review copy does not fully credit the letterer or editors for the issue, and has some general technical difficulties in the credit page layouts - nonetheless, The Unknown Letterer's work is, while very very subtle, pleasingly appropriate, keeping dialogue in place and a limited amount of background noise. As for the covers, we've seen all of them by now throughout the last couple of months, from the Alex Milne/Josh Perez one to the multiple Guidi variants (including the thumbnail one).
Thoughts Spoilerish ahead
As a first issue, and as I mentioned above, Drift: Empire of Stone #1 is a harmless, easily paced, fairly well-dialogued and definitely good looking book, preparing a stage that so far has very little impact on the wider universe of the Transformers, but according to solicits may change everything - again.
Is it? Is it really?
It does little more than that, however, other than re-establishing the at times quite moving relationship between Ratchet and Drift, and hopefully diving into more of Drift's story from this point onwards, as well as the presence of the Cybertronians we do find in the issue. Needless to say, I remain hopeful.
Fellow Seibertronian, fan and voice actor extraordinaire, jON3.0 has posted a new video review featuring Optimus playing Rise Of The Dark Spark and giving away a copy of it for the PS4!
jON3.0 wrote:
Optimus plays Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark! Win a free PS4 copy of the game by going to http://bit.ly/Vb9LNd and leaving a comment on any video "I subscribed for the Dark Spark" to enter in the giveaway! Must be 18+ or have parents' permission; ends Dec 31st!
Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!
You're probably thinking "Another Masterpiece Bumblebee review?!" and it does seem like he's taking the review/headline world by storm right now, but this time we get to see Spike in his Exo-Suit, plus the figure in question here seems to be the finished product, and it's in English from the get go.
So, now that the whole package is available for review, will you be buying? Check out the embed below, courtesy of RocketPunchArmy and find out! When you're done, post your thoughts on the board and let us know what you think!
Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!
Fellow Seibertron.com user chachipower was nice enough to send us a video review of the not-too-recently released, but somehow overlooked since September Takara Tomy Cloud Starscream! The figure, as a reminder, is part of the Cloud section of Transformers, featuring repaints and redecos of Hasbro Generations figures - in this case, Blitzwing and Doubledealer lend their body to Screamer. Check it out below.
Chuckdawg1999 has provided yet another Age Of Extinction figure video review, this time it's One-Step Changer Prowl, from the newest and final wave of AoE One-Steps. Is it worth your time and money? Check out the embed below and find out!
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I was surprised to see a G1 character included in the movie line, but it's nice to see all aspects of Transformers history being highlighted. Using the "Butterfly" we've seen before Prowl transforms from a Classics inspired police car to an almost chibi style of robot. It's a fun little desk toy that I highly recommend.
Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!
Fellow fan and Seibertron board member Transformermegazord (AKA Bens Collectibles) has posted the first English language video review of the upcoming Masterpiece Bumblebee. It should be noted that this is a test shot and not the final product, but it's close, so the video will give us a good, solid idea of what to expect when the figure sees release towards the of this month. Also of note, he does not have Spike on hand, just Bumblebee.
You can see the review by clicking on the embed below:
Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!
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