IDW Publishing's Transformers: Beast Wars #4 and 5 – Savage Landing Parts 04 and 05 – SPOILERS!

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We are back with another Beast Wars comic review

from IDW Publishing. We're going to be covering

issues four and five of the ongoing written by

Eric Burnham, art by Josh Burcham, lettering

done by Jake M. Wood. This is a savage landing

part four and five. What did you think when you

first picked this up? Well, I've been enjoying

the series anyway, and It's it's definitely going

in a different direction plus the insertion of

of Nick's and Scald although scolds very minimal

compared to Nick's at this point in time so I

I'm very much loving it. Absolutely. So this

this storyline I'm enjoying because it's it's

totally different. It's it's Even though you're

you're getting the familiarity of the characters.

You're getting a new Injection into it. That's

not It's not totally different from what you

would see in the show Although it's putting a

little twist on other aspects of it because of

the insertion of Nick's and scold although scold

is not a very uh, important part in this volume,

uh, whereas Nix is, and that's, it's part of

the Dinobot, um, switching sides. Yeah. Yeah,

I, I love this. I think this is cool. Once again,

I love the art. Josh's art is awesome. I love

the character depth that Nix is given. Kinda

hate her computer though. Her computer is kind

of being a bully to her a little bit here. I

don't know, it just doesn't... It doesn't bother

me, to be honest, but that's more so because

it's showing a lot of what Dinobot has to go

through. Of just yelling at his internal computer,

you know, sporadically throughout the series,

as well as some of the other characters. Right

and and I do agree It just I don't know it like

I can't hear like okay, so the computers the

maximum Predacon computers were done by Ian James

Corlett and Elizabeth something I forget what

that voice actress's name was Anyway, they were

male and a female voice and I just can't hear

Ian's voice as Sentinel in my head As he gets

as this computer gets a little Snarky with her

like I can but that's because if you watch a

better mousetrap mm -hmm Where Sentinel is going

on the fritz because rat trap and done about

getting into it and done about launches his blade

into the computer That's when you end up with

a little bit of You know snark in in Sentinel

at least initially So nix can't use her primary

mode nix can't use her flight mode nix can't

use her weapons because of the transformation

lock lens. And what tarantulas has done to her

in his torture of her. She's a bot that's on

kind of her last wings. And then she runs into

Battle Cat. Who knew we would get a Masters of

the Universe Transformers crossover here? Like,

seriously, as soon as this Earth animal, saber

tooth, whatever he is, as soon as this green

cat showed up, I'm like, hey, that's Battle Cat.

It very much looked that way. Yeah. There are

two specific panels. One where he crunches the

tree and the other where it's a full And he's

like swinging at her like he's coming at her.

Those were the two things where I was like, when's

he man going to show up in this? It's like, when

is she going to get turned into mincemeat? Because

it was common. Oh, it was common. If a certain

Predacon didn't show up and Dinobot shows up

and I love the way Josh is drawing him the style,

the color. It's Josh's own style, but it's very

cartoon accurate Which is funny because for somebody

like me who's like accuracy or death I Mean that's

very much how my mind goes with with Transformers

and Beast Wars and You'll you'll hear our thoughts

on Kingdom when we're allowed. Yes, but I'm very

much a stickler for things not changing as much

as the G1ers are like, no, you can't change this.

It's been like this forever. You can't. I mean,

I'm allowing like some changes because things

do change and things do evolve. I just don't

like certain aspects. And so here I find it hilarious

because Dinobot has this stylistic view like

this totally, you know more outstretched elongated

version of him. Mm -hmm, you know less menacing

looking Yeah, he's very lean. Yeah, he's very

lean and there's it's simple but you get a lot

of the detail anyway, and so I find it hilarious

that I'm enjoying all of this art as much as

I am and I think it's a testament to not only

the story but to Josh's ability to Draw and color

a story on this and. It comes out beautifully

like I. It it definitely grows on me the more

I read it. Yeah, every issue I cannot wait to

see the interior panels of the site. I absolutely

love it. I love how simple the backgrounds are

because that way it makes for the characters

to stand out. Like I said with the, the cat that

attacks her, you know, the whole open paw attack,

you know, frontal attack that the cat's doing.

You don't need to see detailed background. You

need to see action with the cat. Same thing with,

with Dinobot and Nix and how they're interacting.

Like, uh, you know, how did you find me? And

you know. And he basically tells her she stinks

and she is like, I got a really big, you know,

really good sniffer. Kind of funny. And then

she gets this giant shock and because she's going

to go into she's going to go offline essentially

if she doesn't get help soon. And the background

is just a light blue color, but it's all of this.

You know lightning and electricity around her

that i just love in the next panel is her kind

of crossed over. You know not killed over i should

say with again i know what is there but the trees

in the bush in the background the colors are

there but you don't need to see. Every single

piece of bark on that tree you just need to know

there are trees there and that's what i love

about this and then that about has the argument

with her computer. So there is that. Well, and

what's beautiful about that is, is he basically

out maneuvers it vocally to help him save her

without necessarily compromising her. Yep, exactly.

Which is so good. We get back to the axel on

and they are. They are. Worrying about nicks

and they're trying to track her they basically

stopped. Working on anything else other than

trying to find a way to track her. And they talk

about sharing information they talk about the

pack Cybertronia they talk about how. Maximals

and Predacons have been at peace for eons. Well,

not anymore, Rhinox. We get Rattrap coming in

here and, you know, snagging some blue box from

Nyx's his room and all of a sudden they get a

signal lock. Tell me that ping means my idea

worked. And apparently Optimus has had a genius

idea to To the track next and I do love the again

I love the exchange between him and Rhinox and

you said you were just a soldier she'll spoil

my reputation and Then we get back to Megatron.

I think it's funny that they finally get him,

you know get freed Yep, and it's tarantulas that

gets him out And yeah, there is only one voice

for Beast Wars Megatron, folks. Sorry about your

luck, but there is only one Megatron voice for

Beast Wars. And we don't come back until we've

tasted victory. Yes! Victory and vengeance! See?

That's Beast Wars Megatron. Yeah, not... Don't

do it. I know. Heaven forbid we get nixed by

Netflix. Wow, that was actually funny. You can't

use that bat character. I could spoil this. She's

not in Kingdom. Yes, Nix is not in the... We'll

just Nix that idea right here. Yeah, Nix that

in the bud. And I love that Megatron does the

whole... Like he basically tells the computer

to Know you know no one else except him can override

the the override stuff Any longer any longer

yes voice code Megatron That's funny because

tarantulas does it anyway later on he does yes,

yes And the Maximals are looking out for Nyx,

and they see Dinobot. And Optimus is like, Predacon.

Let's get her back, and they all go charging.

Oh, it seems we've been noticed. Dinobot makes

his introduction. And Kidor tries to attack him,

doesn't really work. Yeah Yeah, stupid cheetah.

He just he just like choke holds and does like

I'm like he's doing a wrestling move on him He

just like it shoves his hand out and he just

runs right into it neck first Yeah, and even

though cheeto is a full -grown cat in that panel

where Dinobot grabs him He looks like he's a

kitty that's maybe less than a month old. I know

And then Cheetor is like, why do I suddenly have

the overwhelming sense of deja vu? And we get

the line, well, that's just prime. We find out

that Dinobot wants to join the Maximals. We find

out that Yeah, that's what he wants to do and

that's kind of where it ends like this issue.

Uh, I formally request to become a maximal. Now

I said this off and I'll say it here on air.

The reason why we're doing these two parts of

this six issue long arc here is because when

I first read this, I got to this final page and

I'm like, wait, that's it. Like. I was expecting

another panel another page something. Can I get

it they want to leave us on a cliffhanger and

I get it it's supposed to be a monthly read comics

so you come back to. Get it each month and buy

it each month at your local comic shop and that's

all well good and fine but there are just some

comics that read at least for me read so fast

that it's like wait. Where's the rest of it.

That's all what are your overall thoughts on

issue for that issue for was a great Gap to the

next section mm -hmm So it's very It plays into

the story, but it's not it's not necessarily

filler But it's bridging the gap between one

issue in the next Right yeah absolutely Yeah,

it's very much a gap filling thing. Like you

said, it's not actual filler filler, but it's

a, it's a meant to be, Oh, we're setting this

up. This is the setup and hopefully the next

issue we will get the payoff. What would you

rate issue four zero to five? Uh, just because

the interestingness with, with Dino bot and some

of the other aspects, I would probably still

give it, um, I would give this one a four point.

Five out of five, not quite a five because there

just wasn't enough going on yet. But I definitely

enjoyed what dynamics were in this issue. Right,

absolutely. I'm also, I'm going to give it a

four. Wasn't anything about the art or the writing.

It was just the fact of it just went a little

too fast for me. And as I said, it's more of

a set up. Is there anything else? And I still

dig it. I still dig all of Megatron's lines.

I still dig everything that they're doing. It's

just that it felt like, hey, this is a Saturday

at the Axilon kind of thing. Because the Maximals

didn't really have too much to do in this, at

least in the beginning, in the fourth issue.

Twelve years in the making, after six Top 100

Countdowns, the Geekcast Radio Network, along

with 33 participants, are launching our Top 100

Transformers Characters Countdown, August 8th,

2021. 35 years after Transformers the movie was

released. Don't be the only con left out of this

one, folks. Because, really, whether you're a

Predacon or a Decepticon, you want to be at the

top. Right, Megatron? Yes. Tune in to Geekcast

Radio Network's Top 100 Transformers Characters

Countdown from August 8th through September 17th,

2021. Six parts, six constructicons. Learn who

will fall and where they will fall because...

One always falls. Transform and transcend here

with us on the GeekCast Radio Network. Why nobody

love Waspinator? So moving on to part five issue

five savage landing part five same creative team

Eric Burnham Josh Birchham Jake and wood on letters

We get to Where we left off And where we left

off is Dinobot in a cell It's not a jail cell

It's a holding area meant for a malfunctioning

proto forms seemed appropriate You think i'm

malfunctioning? The thought hadn't crossed my

mind. Oh god i can so hear gary and scott in

my head. Then it's just creating a voice for

nix. Which i think is good it's and she's a new

character we need to know more about her how

she is how she feels we know that optimus is

a young leader here he's not the old and grizzled.

Gorilla that we see in like. The end of the stores

or the the end of these machines kind of thing

he's a young leader here. But this whole issue.

Is to basically set up. Dinobot. And nix and

their potential friendship and dinobots eventual

like i said he wants to switch sides. And i shared

this on facebook at the time. But I love this

whole exchange with them. I think my favorite

part is that full -on splash page, I did not

torture you. You can clearly see the size difference.

I did not torture you. Sorry, I'm no voice actor,

folks. You know, but nobody will hire me. Oh,

stop it. I love seeing the size difference between

them. Like he is literally towering over her

and she's like the size of rumble kind of thing.

Oh yeah, totally. And so they have a conversation

here after that scene where he asks her, he says

to her, tell me then what do you know about Predacons?

Not hearsay or prejudices. Any action can be

molded to fit a negative view. What are you certain

of to your core? And she says, you're violent,

you're aggressive. Well, we're largely a warrior

cast, so that's as it should be. Actually, no.

And then he goes into this whole history of what

the Predacons really were and he even says, or

close to the end of this, he's like, to be clear,

if you had come at me with a weapon, I would

have killed you without hesitation or remorse.

But instead, I saw you defenseless and hobbled.

yet refusing to give in i respect that and oh

ain't that sweet rat traps watching the love

story one thing i hope they don't do with those

two is make it a love story yeah i think that

it would be good as like a mentor mentee type

thing yep like um You know, almost akin to like

everybody how they treat Cheetor. I think that

that would work well for these two. I think turning

it into a relationship, I think it would be a

terrible idea for these two. Yeah, no. The only

relationship I have ever really acknowledged

in the Beast Wars canon, at least in the American

96 series, is Tigatron and Airazor. Oh, and to

a lesser, not literally a lesser extent, but

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, but that's a whole

other soap opera. Oh, he's, yeah. Yeah. He's

literally a dog. So. Mm hmm. And Rattrap, even

though he's spying on them, we get this little

exclamation point message pop up. I'm not dodging

anything. Let me just enlarge this and. The Frag?

Yeah. And, yeah, weird message on the screen.

We're boatin' up cold, there's some Preds! Yep.

And we go outside to the Predacons, and they

are outside the ship. And, uh, do we launch a

Blitz Megatron? Hmm, no. I don't think so. A

crash -landed, damaged, lightly armed science

vessel doesn't require such an attack. We'll

simply walk over and let them feel their doom

approach. See, it takes someone who knows the

speech patterns of the Megatron. It's going to

be really hard. Yes you are. Don't get in trouble.

Please don't. That's that's why i'm like you

know i'm doing it within the confines of the

comic. That's right and rat trap assumes dinobot

called them. And the shields never got fixed

so. I haven't invented sentinel yet so well true

but they did have shields even before like. I

remember, and again, I know we're drawing allusions

to the cartoon itself, but the very first episode,

I remember Cheetor. Shields are doing a major

fade! That's right. I'll throw that audio in

here somewhere, but shields are doing a major

fade! Like, they always had shields. They didn't

always have Sentinel. Well, they had shields

before they crash landed. Right. They didn't

really have a security system anymore once they

did. Yeah, that's true. And, uh... Yeah, it's

the beast versus the beasts. That's always a

good thing. I love what Megatron sets Tarantulas

to do, though. Tarantulas, break away from us

and sneak inside that ship. Set us self -destruct.

I want to see their spirits crushed. when they

lose everything. Figure something out. I just

love Megatron's scheming, maniacalness, how he

comes out in this. Then he barks orders at everyone.

Josh even managed to capture Megatron's dinosaur

fingers where he touches the points to the points

when he's contemplating and he's getting... Like,

braggadocious. Even when he was the Transmetal

T -Rex, did the same thing. And so it's funny

when, you know, you can actually visualize this

in the cartoon. Attention, Maximals! I am Megatron,

future ruler of Cybertron! You know, and then

he's doing the little thing with his fingers.

It's just hilarious to me. So good. So good.

So we get the introductions and, you know, we

get Predacons terrorized, they all transform.

And we go back to Nyx and Dinobot. What was that?

What was what? Computer, what's the source of

the noise outside the ship? Predacon attack!

Predacon attack! What? Let me out. It's almost

like the wipe them out, all of them, is what

I kind of see. Yeah. She's very hesitant to let

Dinobot out, but the Maximals are not doing so

well against the Predacons. And to be honest,

Dinobot's as good as dead as soon as Megatron

gets his hands on him anyway. Well, true. Meanwhile,

Rattrap's inside the ship trying to fix all the

shields, and Tarantulas is right behind him.

Creepy eight -legged spider. Ah, yes. Sorry to

steal your line, BossBot, but had to do it. And

Rattrap does outsmart him... for the moment.

Yeah, but that seems to be always the case with

Tarantulas and Rattrap. Yeah, Rattrap always

wins, yeah. He always, he always bests Tarantulas.

Yep. And Tarantulas is always the one that's

at the brunt end of a... you know a laser shell

or an explosion or the wrist -mounted belly bombs

or You know just tarantulas just can't you just

can't hold the candle to that mm -hmm No, we

can't Hey string, but here's a couple of belly

bombs with your name right on them eat them and

wait. That's right I think my favorite panel,

even though I've loved a lot of the panels in

both of these issues, my favorite panel in this

entire arc so far is the primal Megatron face

-off where Megatron says, There's only so long

you and your luckies can hold out before death

comes for you. And it will come, after all. No

one defies Megatron and lives. And then I love

Dinobot coming out. Mm -hmm. And that's how the

issue ends. Holy crap. This one was awesome.

I love every minute of this. I think it is so

cool. Well, the action, the pontificating, the

transformations were there, the fights, the twists

and turns. I mean, it was all there. Yeah, absolutely.

The writing was there. Everything was there.

It's setting us up for God knows what. Well,

I know in the next arc they're going to have

Black Arachnia. They've already teased that.

Yeah. No, no, no. I know that and we're actually

going to get to that because I actually have

issues six, seven and eight pulled up and we'll

get to those solicitations here in a few moments.

But no, but what I'm saying is at the end of

this, throughout this whole, both of these issues,

issue four and issue five, like I said, Issue

four was kind of the set up, set up. Issue five

was kind of sort of the payoff, but it still

left you wanting more. And between the action,

between the moments with Dinobot and Nyx in the,

in the Maximal holding chamber and all of that,

it's just so good and it's entertaining and it's

Beast Wars done well. Well, I will say this for

for the Beast revival and for the 25th anniversary

This is probably the closest you're gonna get

if you're a die -hard fan of the original. Mm

-hmm Because let's face it they're bringing it

out with Kingdom they're bringing it out with

a new movie No matter what direction they go

with it You're probably gonna be displeased with

the other two if you're a fan of Beast Wars whereas

this is I'm I feel like you're pretty solidly

safe Right Yeah, absolutely And no, I'm between

Eric's writing and Josh's art It is so fun So

so much fun Issue five, what are you going to

give it? Zero to five. This one I'm going to

give a five. I really enjoyed it. I love the

the dialogue. I love the banter. I love the the

fighting, the the transformations, the the the

small details. I mean, I even mentioned Megatron

fingers touching. Yeah, most people would just

kind of not, you know, gloss over. He's got the

little minute details. You can tell how much

Beast Wars means to Josh. Yeah. Absolutely. I

am also going to give it a five. I really dug

it. There weren't any moments. I mean, I'm not

going to take a point away for the fact that

I don't like a Tarantulas stalking his prey.

That's what he does. I get it. I'm over it. He

always does that to Rattrap and he always loses,

which is the great thing to look forward to is

the payoff when Rattrap finally does give Tarantulas

his own. Yep, absolutely. All right, folks, coming

up for... Transformers Beast Wars from IDW Publishing.

This will be released later in July, July 28th

issue number six, Savage Landing part six. It's

a siege on the Axilon as the Predacons attempt

to end the Beast Wars before they even begin

by ringing down the Maximals and their base as

Megatron and his loyal question mark troops launch

their assault. One bot on Optimus Primal's ship

decides to put it all on the line. to help the

others turn the tide. And then coming up August

25th, 2021 is the next arc. Transformers Beast

Wars number seven. This is written by Eric Burnham.

The art this time around in this arc is going

to be done by Winston Chan. Pod part one. After

their first explosive battle, both the Maximals

and Predacons have allowed a lull to refresh

and regroup. But when the first protoform pod

comes down and a new entry to the Beast Wars

enters the fray, things are going to change in

a major way. But whose side is Blackarachnia

on? Dun dun dun. Coming in September, September

28th, 2021, Transformers Beast Wars number 8.

As I said earlier, Eric Burnham on writing. Winston

Chan is on the art for this arc. Pod part two

black arachnia has made her way to the maximal

ship the axel on and encountered her first maximal

cheetah Now she's gone missing again, and it's

up to the whole crew to find the mysteriously

disappearing spider But before she finds them

Yeah, I'm excited for this book this series folks.

This is awesome so much fun. I I'm a little Curious

how this is gonna play out. I mean, I know that

they just gave the reinforcement of Dinobot to

the Maximals. So they don't technically need

Tigertron yet. Right. But I'm waiting for Tigertron.

Waiting for Tigertron, huh? Yeah, who knows?

I don't know what's gonna happen and I like that.

I love that we get the little previews, the little

teasers, the little descriptions and... It's

just a thing for me to get excited for future

issues and I cannot wait. Alright folks I think

that's gonna do it for us here inside the pull

bag and on the 200th episode of all things Transformers

Anything you want to say sir because this is

your 200th episode for ATTF Did you ever think

you'd get ATTF to 200 episodes? Oh, no. No, I

tried to kill the show three times. It's It just

won't die, so I've come to the realization this

show just has to keep going forever. All Things

Transformers, folks, was designed on the indestructible

spark of Starscream. Oh my god, it's the rampage

of the GeekCast radio network. No, it's Megatron.

Well, hello - Yes, all things boil down to Megatron.

Well, yes, obviously, but hello, indestructible

spark, rampage, Dinobot. All that anyway. Alright

folks coming up in July here inside the pull

bag we've got I didn't actually plan it this

way but we've got a back -to -back Transformers

timeline type of thing going on. This is the

end of June with Transformers Beast Wars numbers

four and five. Beginning in July we've got episode

418 which is JT from Saskatoon joining me to

talk about Transformers Ghostbusters. crossover

Ghosts of Cybertron. After that I've got Radiant

Black number five with Edward and Kendra Hale.

Someone, I don't know who is going to join me

for Ryan Drost's create our own series Stealth

Hammer which has one issue currently. And then

later on in July Radiant Black number six and

at the end of the month we'll be back with Beast

Wars number six. So that's what's coming up here

inside the pull bag. Where can the people find

you online sir? at the Twitter's at SCP -21 I

am at TF2 and Mike you can hear the other all

the other contact info in the outro Make your

greatest game into comics and we will catch you

next time here inside the pull bag You wouldn't

be here unless you had nowhere else to turn So

let's cut through the signal noise shall we you've

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