Transformers: Robots in Disguise Volume 4 Review

My gosh, this is so great. Welcome to the pull

bags back issue classics Join us as we talk about

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So open your ears to hear our discussion of the

older Continuities as the back issue classics

are also what's in the pull bag Hello and welcome

to the pull bag this is yet again another back

issue classics episode and this week We've got

a double shot of getting rid of some robots We've

got transformers robots in disguise volumes four

and five on this Wednesday Last week you heard

IDW TMNT volume eight with Joe Reed and myself.

I am TFG one Mike one of your hosts You also

heard me talking with Chuck from star Joe's podcast

as well in an origins episode And a few weeks

back we had Nicole cyclonus obsessed hailstorm

on here talking about more than meets the eye.

And replacing Ender this time around is Lady

Rek. Hello. Hello. It's good to be back. Woohoo.

Yes. Well, we did one of the volumes together

with Ender that one time. So, you know. Yep.

Yep. We did volumes. One to three, actually.

A bumble baggage. I woke up this morning thinking,

bumble baggage, going, I gotta make sure that

I bring up that, because, you know, it was brilliant.

Yes, Ender has sheer brilliance written all over

him. You seem to be having some bumble baggage

of your own at this point. Just a little bit.

Alright, so we are here to talk about Robots

in Disguise Volume 4. It collects issues 12 through

16 of the Transformers Robots in Disguise IDW

ongoing. The cover for the trade is a reformatted

Megatron, a Bumblebee, Metalhawk, and Starscream

with bombshell, and yeah, that's it. What do

you think of the cover for the trade? Pretty

much, you know, sums up this whole trade, actually.

Megatron comes back and things get really awesome.

It's a whole year's worth of waiting for, you

know, things building to this point. And we're

wondering, hey, you know, when is Megatron coming

back? Well, this is his big push, in a sense,

in robots in disguise. Yeah, it's pretty fun.

It's a pretty fun volume. I'd say it's, it's

got all the answers that you've been waiting

for, for the last, I mean, if you had been following

issue by issue, this was when things got good,

got really good. Very much so. Um, cause like,

I remember when we did way back in episode 33

of the pullback, when we did volume three of

RID with Ender, like the end of it was Megatron.

Coming back and it's like well, huh? you know

the inside cover of the trade has a Very armored

up Prowl. He has a whole bunch of guns and everything

else. Yeah. Um, it looks cool That's one thing

that kind of confused me this whole time is I

don't because it's been a while since I've read

volumes one through three I don't remember exactly

when bombshell infected Prowl Uh, I believe it

was an issue. I want to say four. Oh wow. So

it was pretty, it wasn't like really early on,

but it was, you know, let me, let me flip through

that real quick. Cause I'm like, uh, that's a

good question. When was that? I think it might've

been, let me see if anybody flipping through

it real quick. We'll have to edit just a little

bit. Well, while Amy is flipping through, the

credits for this is obviously written by Mr.

Captain of Continuity himself, John Barber. Pencils

are done by Andrew Griffith. Inks by Griffith

and Brian Shearer. There was an ink assist by

Rick Ketchum. The colors are done by Josh Perez.

Letters by Sean Lee and Chris Mowry. Sean Lee

is everywhere in IDW. Oh, yeah, that guy's all

over the place because he's in the most of the

turtle stuff So issue number 12 I Assume are

you still looking for that stuff? Yeah, just

just really real quick here Yeah, it was I think

you I think it was in actually the first volume.

So it was either three or four when we got it

Yeah, so since issue four prowl has not been

himself That's... It seems a little weird, because...

You know, he was... See, the problem I have is

I don't remember what he was like before all

of, you know, the flipping tables and having

RC murder people and everything else. You know,

the thing is that it was supposed to be subtle

enough that he was being controlled, but he had

to be still himself. Mm -hmm, and so It's it's

one of those things where it's like look. I mean

the way it was kind of explained to me is that

bombshell was basically Controlling him in a

sense it just like pushing him in different ways

So he wasn't really not being himself But he

was influencing his decisions and then just slowly

taking over in that way so it it was supposed

to be where He's not necessarily, um, like all

Bob shell. It's, it's just Bob shell has is influencing

everything that he does. If that makes sense.

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. So he had to be

that way. I mean, enough, because if, if he had

just all out, started not acting like prowl,

then they would have all known that it wasn't

him. And especially since when in this issue

or in this volume when he finally says how did

you know it wasn't me? He's like well because

you were subtle enough to not be you but yet

you were you Yeah, yeah It's kind of like over

and more than meets the eye when when rung figures

out that Minimus is actually ultra Magnus. Yeah

so issue 12 cover a Beast Wars Megatron I love

how they did this. Honestly, like I, I was really

on the fence. Like I was on board with more than

meets the eye. I'm like, okay, Rodimus, he's

pretty much not my number one G one character.

Like, you know, Rodimus and a ragtag bunch of

Autobots and others and non Decepticons. Everybody

else goes off on a space quest. Okay, cool. Robots

in disguise. Oh, political. Oh, last thing I

need is politics and my transformers. But it

worked and I liked it. I was really wondering

how long it was going to take them to get to

Megatron coming back. And I love the Beast Wars

design on the body. I think it's awesome. It's

mainly his head, really, that reminds me that

it's Beast Wars Megatron. What did you like about

this cover or didn't like about this cover? Is

this the one that we're talking about? That's

that's basically Megatron's like falling apart

Okay, because for me there's Beast Wars. It's

like, okay, I can vaguely see it and I'm like,

okay No, I really liked it because it's like

okay at this point. We had not seen anything

about Megatron He comes out of chaos. He disappears.

We haven't seen him since then And, you know,

that was when we had the Devoid thing and he

took it on and, you know, okay, so then they

did the whole blackout of stuff. So we hadn't

really seen him for over a year. So to see him

this chopped up and wrecked, basically, it was

just like, wow, you know, how is he still functioning?

Because he does not look like he should be alive,

but he is. Yeah, he looks like he has a Johnny

five right arm. Yeah, pretty much. And I think

I remember if I remember right, I think people

were saying that it's like, oh, he's got like,

he's like, it's like the, the Terminator from

Terminator one, the first one where they're like,

it's melted down to just like the basically the,

the, the undercarriage skeleton. And that's what

he kind of looks like. So The one thing I love

about this is that John and the artists can homage

the design of Beast Wars Megatron without actually

having to bring a separate character in. It really

bugs the crap out of me later on when they bring

in Rattrap and Waspinator and it just I don't

know it It's not that I want the IDW kind of

need to just be strictly G1 stuff. It's not that

at all I'm not trying to be a G whiner here But

it's just one of those things where it just felt

out of place to me when those characters came

in so I do like how how they are able to just

paying homage to Beast Wars and Megatron without

actually having to bring that character specifically

in. And man, Prowl's pretty beat up. He's not,

okay, I'm trying to figure out what cover that's,

he's not on that cover. No, no, no, I'm already

in the, getting into the issue, Prowl. Okay,

yeah. Top of the first page, he's dead. Practically,

practically. Well, you know, and just to give

a little bit of background here, basically the

issue before this, they went into the Decepticon

pen and he took a, took a face full of, of explosion.

And it really ripped him up, which was, we find

later on, um, kind of planned. Yeah. But you

know, Hey, he took one for the team. He took

one for the team. Yes, he did, very much so.

I mean, you wouldn't think that he would do that.

I mean, it's so not him to do that, but logically

it makes sense. I guess that's the reason why

he would have taken it for the team. You think

about it though, if Prowl's the logical one on

the Autobot side, you'd think that he and Shockwave

would have more of a rivalry. That's a good idea,

yeah. Don't know it's hard to think because sometimes

you know neck -and -neck, you know, like, you

know, would he go neck -and -neck with shockwave

and like Yeah, but that's the next arc, right?

Yeah, the dark Cybertron thing where he just

goes all super villain So prowl is badly beaten

up I love wheeljack narrating. Yeah I love Wheeljack

narrating, that is awesome. That was one thing

I really liked about what John did in the first

year of More Than UCI is that he gave... Robots

in Disguise. Robots in Disguise. Yeah, I'm sorry.

It's easy to get those two confused. Sorry. So

Robots in Disguise. He gave voices to characters

that I didn't expect to hear from. and Wheeljack

was one of them. And I really, really liked it,

to be honest, because he, well, he's a scientist

for one, but he just has this distinct voice.

And I really think that John channeled that very,

very well. And it almost made you really want

to see more of him, in a sense, because he just

seemed like he was stepping forward and doing

such a brilliant job at doing that. It was just

really unique. And I really liked that. I liked,

I liked hearing that voice. Um, and it's been

a while since we've had like a Wheeljack centric

story where he was like the center of attention.

And yet it works so brilliantly in robots and

disguise that, you know, it was just, it worked

and it really made it different and unique. So,

especially since, you know, you play such a big

role on this, this volume, in fact. Yeah. I love

the art. On the first page, the panel where Starscream

comes in, it almost looks like they were trying

to draw the War for Cybertron model of Star.

Like, I don't know, Starscream just in that panel

where he comes up to Wheeljack, he looks like

the War for Cybertron design as far as his body

goes. Which I like. I think it's interesting.

So apparently Starscream has some more bad news.

Yeah. Comes in there to tell them, guess who's

not dead. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was actually

pretty cool with the, how they did the designs.

I know that's much different than, um, I don't

recall whether or not Andrew did that consciously

or if he was said, Hey, let's go with the war

for Cybertron designs and go from there. Um,

since Prowl does get a redesign in this, in this

volume, um, it was kind of cool to see him drift

away from that as well, because I think he tried

to keep kind of like, um, close to it, but not

like really close to it because it just goes

to his own design when we get the redesign with

Prowl. Trying to find where that is real quick

to check again. I Do love Wheeljacks inner monologue

the narration here. Anyway, that's how I wound

up with front row seats for the return of Megatron.

Yeah This two -page slash overlay spread because

it's got it's one giant page It is a splash page,

but it also has two it has actually Yeah, four

inserts. Yeah. Which is really, really cool.

And the name of this story in Chapter 12 is City

on Fire. It's about to get on fire, you mean?

Yep. Oh, goodness. Crap, I just realized that

I have the wrong PDF open. Crap. So we see Megatron.

And we see all the other Autobots. Bumblebee's

first line, don't take a step. It's even better.

I like it. It's like, this doesn't happen in

my city. Autobots, kill him. I just thought,

whoa, Bumblebee. Would you ever imagine Bumblebee

being the one to give the kill order? No. But

I do have to say this scene it oh God what episode

of Beast Wars was that ah? There's an episode

of Beast Wars where Megatron comes to the axel

on and We see a giant megaphone and He said he

says exactly what he says here I come in peace

and Rhinox replies you're about to leave in pieces

This is exactly like it's like John went back,

watched that episode of Beast Wars, and almost

mimicked this same thing. Of course, Bumblebee

doesn't say that exact same thing, but the I

come in peace line with the Beast Wars Megatron

design, and then Bumblebee says what he says,

no, this doesn't happen to my city. Autobots

kill him. It's like, wow. Is that Starscream

that says finally? No, actually that's that's

that side swipe His gun has been getting bigger

and bigger and bigger all through the first three

volumes of robots and disguise and Finally, he's

able to use that gun when bubble gives the kill

order. This was like Pure gold pure comedy gold.

It was like hey, you know, this should be a serious

moment but the fact that probably one gives the

kill order is hilarious and then the fact that

Side swipe comes out says finally It's just like,

oh my gosh, these guys are all, you know, trigger

happy and finally they get to take it out on

somebody. Poor Megatron. Poor Megatron. Yeah,

you really do feel bad for the guy. I mean, he's

already pretty much falling apart. I mean, and

I guess for me personally, I'm, you know, you

mentioned the other stuff that where, you know,

where Megatron went. Wasn't reading it back then

so like this to me is all new I have no when

I first read these issues when I first read this

trade Before the recording and everything else

I had no idea other than my general you know

knowledge of of g1 Megatron no clue what to expect

out of him in this series and The Autobots are

They're ruthless in this You kind of can't blame

them in a sense, too. No, yeah, I understand

that. They don't trust Decepticons. They're trying

to keep the nails from making a lot of dumb decisions.

The trust between both factions is just incredibly,

incredibly stretched. I mean, there are moments

where they do kind of work together. And I think

most of that came from the fact that when Cybertron

started having issues and stuff like that, where

it was them against the planet, then they kind

of pulled together. I think enough just to keep

things from falling apart completely. But the

fact that Megatron comes back just changes the

whole dynamic all over. Yeah, which we of course

see in this volume because that's exactly what

happens is that the Decepticons are like, all

right Megatron's back Let's get the shindig back

on the roll, you know, it's like and hey get

back to the war that we never actually actually

fight in Exactly, and it's just like hey, you

know, he's back now. Let's let's go back into

our you know regular habits No I was looking

forward to that, too. I mean, there is absolutely

a plan in play here that we find out about in

a couple issues. Yeah. I absolutely love the

art, the blast effects. Oh, yeah. Whoever added

these in out of the artists, I mean, that splash

page, well, it's not a splash page, but that

page, that full page where you see the full power

of the Autobot army. And you have Bumblebee in

a little, um, side window. That is just awesome.

Oh, where all of it, they've opened fire and

is getting, taking all the hits and it's going

to cracker, cracker, cracker. And then you've

got a little Bumblebee here with a frowny face,

just like, okay, take him out. He doesn't look

happy. I mean, you think that he, I mean, just

the whole situation does not make him happy.

I mean, come on. He's that guy that's been trying

to be peaceful, and now he's like, great, Megatron's

back. I'm not going to deal with this. Just kill

him. Please. The funny thing is, normally when

I read comics, it doesn't matter what comic it

is. It could be Batgirl, it could be Nightwing,

it could be anything. I usually have the characters'

voices in my head, or the voices that I recognize.

I can not hear Dan Gilvezan saying, any of the

lines bumblebee has said to this point yeah in

this issue i just i can't hear it i just can't

hear dan's voice in my head at all he doesn't

seem to have that voice i could probably hear

more of the war for cybertron voice that bumblebee

has yeah because that just seems and and and

i know it's it's not just because of the the

design yeah yeah it's more because i don't envision

idw bumblebee at this point to be dan gilvazan

he just doesn't have that i don't know is that

g1 bumblebee voice is has more it's more youthful

it's more younger it's got it's got more of a

positive like you know happy -go -lucky kind

of thing to it yeah because that's the character

that he was in in the g1 series now in idw That's

not who Bumblebee is. He's not been that for

a long time So I don't ever envision him as Dan

Gillis and voice I think I've kind of visioned

him more that voice the one that for more for

Cybertron Because they do some pretty dark things.

He's done some pretty dark things He's had to

do some really interesting things too. So it's

yeah He's had to deal with a lot. I remember

before they before it was revealed in the final

episode of Prime that Wilfredel was going to

be the voice of Prime Bumblebee, I almost wanted

them to go with Johnny from the games, because

that would have made a lot more sense to me,

but Wilfredel is fine as well. So we get back

into this. They're firing on Megatron, and Needlenose,

of all people, says, no, stop! And it makes sense

even more like we don't we don't find this out

till I think another couple of months from now

I think spotlight Megatron is where we find out

where when Megatron came back When they were

on the asteroid Needle nose had lost his hands

And he was giving everybody a pep talk and how

he was going to get his hands back. So to see

this now, I mean, to go back and read it, you

know, afterwards, go, oh my gosh, you know, because

needle nose was that guy that he kind of looked

at and said, you know, that we would, you know,

fix things and he's got his hands back now. So.

It, this is almost an act of kind of loyalty

in the fact that, you know, Megatron said something

directly to him about getting his hands back

here. He's got them, but it just, you know, when

I saw that I was like, Oh, that's so cool. What

is it between George Lucas, James Roberts and

John Barber? They all love chopping people's

hands off. Actually, that was a Nick bird. That

was a, that was a Nick rum written story. Oh,

gosh. Wow. At least Shockwave has his hands.

No, he doesn't. Well, he's got one of them. We're

all, we're all didn't even come out with two.

I mean, yeah, no, not, I wasn't speaking of,

um, um, Spotlight Megatron. I was speaking of,

uh, comparing George Lucas to Roberts and Barber

for Robots in Disguise and More Than Meets the

Eye. Everybody... Apparently likes chopping hands

off because that's all that Lucas does I mean

Luke got his hand cut off in the prequels Anakin

got his hand cut off ratchets missing his hands

cuz farmers Yeah When did John cut off hands

trying to think Don't think John is in that group.

I think it's just Nick and James Twisted ones

More James than Nick You say that cuz you're

a Nick apologist Because we haven't seen Nick

as much but you know James can't take all the

spotlight. I've got to get in there too You know,

but needle nose does have a point and I was really

surprised that What surprises me about John's

writing here is that he actually makes the Decepticons

and Megatrons sympathetic. Yes, he does. You

never, never in my wildest dreams would I ever

think any single Decepticon is a sympathetic

character. Yeah, but he does it in this and he

does it brilliantly. You almost like, you're

like, come on, bubble be, are you really going

to kill Megatron? Look at him. And you know,

needle nose has an absolutely good point. Um,

you know, he's, he's not a threat. He's, he's

doesn't even his arm cannon. I mean, he, he doesn't

even look like he's going to survive this. Luckily

he does, but it's just, you know, the Autobots

are going full open fire on this guy. It's just

like, Oh, Yeah, it's like the war might be over

but they get these guys are still doing really

dark things and You're right. You feel bad for

Megatron. You feel bad for needle nose, too Yeah,

by the end of this, you know volume the tables

turn Yeah, pretty much Now let me ask you because

you've read the previous continuity than I haven't

Has Megatron always had the Beast Wars -like

body as far as the face and all that stuff? No,

I think it's just part of the design. This is

actually the bomber look that they started. I

think it was in Kasa's run. I want to say it

was Alex Milne that kind of made him this. It

was supposed to be a temporary body. Okay. It

wasn't something this was the one where he was

like, uh, that was out of the or 13 Hyped up

stuff that made him have the space bridge and

him that type of thing I believe it was Alex

Meln that that that pulled it off with his redesign

And that was in the ongoing Decepticon arc Try

to think what it was called. It was like a 16

17 18 19 that that in that area But yeah Actually,

I think we first saw it. I take that back. Maybe

it was when we first saw it on issue 13. And

I think that was the issue that Nick, um, Nick

Roach penciled because that was also the one

where we saw Rodimus get his chest completely

blown out. And that's where we saw it. So, but

yeah, I mean, it was just, that's, it was just,

I think there was a toy coming out and it made

sense too. Do one. I think a few people had said,

Hey, it'd be great to see him as that. And I,

I don't recall all of the specifics because that

was like two years ago. Yeah. It was a long time

ago. It seems like a long time, but if you rewind

the clock that far back, I'd be like, yeah. It

was kind of cool. I mean, I, I kind of liked

the new look just because it was different. We'd

never seen it before. It was kind of cool to

see something new and fresh, but I think by this

point, I think we were ready to. Let's go back

to classic Megatron. Yeah, no, I mean, and I

think that's cool. I mean, I love the homage

to Beast Wars Megatron. But yeah, no, we needed

to get back to classic. So Needlenose keeps going

on and on about look at him. He's he nearly died

during the chaos event protecting this world.

He's a hero. Yeah, yeah. He's a returning hero.

And, you know, Bumblebee, he still has a soft

heart. He's like, okay, I guess let's not kill

him. But I want him locked up. I want him locked

up and really just locked up. All I can think

of when Needlenose says he's a returning hero.

And I don't know why. It's friggin' Aunt May

from Spider -Man 2. There's a hero in all of

us. So so yeah, we get You know Bumblebee's gonna

you know, like you said he's gonna have them

locked up Yes, they go a step further. Not only

do they have him locked up, but they also put

this forcefield shield thing around him that

Will Jack has invented that actually saved his

life earlier in another issue. You'd think it

was a gimmick, but no, it's got a purpose. There's

a couple of purposes that are involved here,

because we're going to come back to that in issue

16 at the very end of this volume. Will Jack

is stealing Trailbreaker's job. Yeah, he kind

of is, isn't he? He had to make an artificial

way to make a force shield like this. But basically,

once he's in this thing, he can't fire in there

and get out of it. So it's pretty secure. Which,

you know, like I said, Bumblebee's like, you

know, secure him. Secure him. Not on my planet.

Oh, gosh, wow. Just look at that body. How is

he ill? I know the spark usually lasts more than

the body does but I Think it's just a testament

to the the type of body that they created. I

mean this was created by shockwave It was supposed

to be a space it was supposed to involve space

bridge technology as well. So I Think it just

at least to me. I was like, wow. Okay. Well when

shockwave creates something he really create

something to last. I think it's kind of just

a little bit of a testament to that. So I mean,

I like this where he says, they're gonna confirm

his identity, but he's not interested in saving

him. So don't intend on fixing that body at all.

But you know, just have them secured. So if he

died after this, you know, just because he was

that weak, you know, Bumblebee has no intention

of healing the guy. It's like, oh, that's so

cold, so cold. Yeah, we get him back to the medical

bay. Um, and Wheeljack is looking him over and

even like, even looking at him in the, in the,

in the force shield here. We don't see I mean

we see the general damage that's done to his

body, but looking at him up close. Oh my god

Yeah Like his are his right arm It looks like

ravage not on it for a little while Rats out

in the middle of nowhere. Oh turbo foxes have

been kneeling even have been nibbling on the

last couple months Yeah, and oh even wheeljack

is like, you know, hey, I could save a whole

lot of lives, but just you know accidentally

being a little too overzealous in my examination.

I'm like, jeez, Wheeljack, really? Oh, man. The

Autobots are really dark. They're in this gray

area. It's like, jeez, you know, and I get it.

He's a war criminal to them. Yeah, he's a war

criminal to them. How would you you would, you

know, I hate making this reference because it's

made so often, but the whole Hitler thing. No,

yeah. No, I get it. I understand it. Not that

it's the equivalent of, but you know, because

I don't like keeping the guy in the echo, you

know? No. But the equivalent of that is he's

just done some really bad things. So they look

at him as if he's like that guy, you know? And

I understand that. I just think that... It's

times like this. I hate asking myself this, but

what would a Ryan Pax do? You know the answer

to that, right? Yeah. He would always give him

a second chance and a third and a fourth and

a fifth. Yeah, because this version of Orion

slash Optimus is not asking for anyone's faces.

Nope. Because I think that's exactly the reverse.

I think all the other Autobots are basically

asking for his head on a plaque. Yeah. Yeah.

Faye's version of Optimus Prime is a little bit

different. We've all learned to accept this.

Yes, yes. At least they have better actors than

the fourth movie. True. That's a discussion for

a whole other podcast. A whole other podcast,

yes. And it would completely derail what we're

trying to do here. But we do eventually get to

that point where, you know, several issues...

Well, another year from this... volume, we get

that conversation between Orion Pax, who then

goes back to Optus Prime and Megatron, which

is where we get the current things going on right

now and more than ECI. So yeah. So we get to,

Bumblebee comes in, asks about his status, and

Wheeljack says... It's him. Yeah, it's him. we

get to the next part of it and the page where

bumblebee says Prime went down that road and

it doesn't end the way I want it to yeah the

part where you're gonna talk to him nope absolutely

not we know what happens with that one and I

don't feel like it's a good thing to do so I

ain't gonna talk to him just lock him up and

put him in a cage somewhere throw away the key

but this this panel here reminds me of At the

end of Avengers basically what if Robert Downey

jr. Was Megatron because it reminds me so much

of Tony Laying there on the ground until Hulk

screams at him to wake him up. Yeah Because I'm

how Megatron's face is on the on the panel. Yeah

So, oh I had to point out real quick and this

this just also goes to show how beat up the guy

is Megatron how he's like trying to say bumblebee

in the first panel on that page. It's buh buh

buh. You know, how they, how they did it is just

brilliant. Yeah, it is very much so. So go onto

the next page and he starts talking with metal

Hawk about, you know, what metal Hawk. The guy

has to be pricking everybody's conscience left

and right just to be that guy, right? Yeah. Everybody

should be perfect and, you know, I'm the self

-righteous one to, you know, tell you how to

do it. Has Metalhawk been in any other comics

or is this a character specifically to IDW? No,

Metalhawk was in, I believe, the... What was

it called? It was a Japanese. I think it was

Japanese. Master Force. He was a Master Force

character. I want to say that he might have been

in something else as well. But up until now,

up until John took hold of Robots in Disguise,

we did not get Metalhawk until recently. So this

is, you know, at least, you know, 12 issues into

a run of having Metalhawk. So... He was pretty

much a blank character. They kind of filled in

the, you know, made it work for IDW. I do not

believe that the Master Force version of him

was like this. Um, but that's not, you know,

necessarily a bad thing. I mean, it just, he's

an IDW version of their, you know, their own

take on that character. The only reason why I

ask is because this panel here where he, uh,

he's saying my people were, uh, We're going to

get caught in the middle of your war again. My

people are going to die. His head looks like

Prime Bumblebee a little bit to me. Just the

shape of it. Yeah, I agree. I think that's it

kind of has a cross between the two, doesn't

it? I think for a while there, we were kind of

thinking, is he going to be the next leader?

I don't know. Metalhawk is one of those characters

that I think I've heard some people think he's

a complete douche. I think he means well, it's

just his tact sometimes comes off so self -righteous.

I mean, even more than even, you know, how, you

know, Megatron or Optimus Prime, you know, tries

to appeal to everybody's good side. Metalhawk

just does it in the wrong way. It comes off more

irritating than anything else. But I think he

means well. I think his heart is in the right

place. He just... the way he comes off is just

so it's it's in a way that does not people don't

want to hear it absolutely um this page here

where we get metal hawk uh The second panel that

we get to, after Bumblebee says Metalhawk, I

really thought he was going to say, Metalhawk,

I don't have time for this. The previous issues

he would have, I mean, you know, Metalhawk just

comes to jump in here at the wrong time. We're

starting to see Bumblebee, who usually has been

making all of these really split -second decisions,

he's, granted, he did... you know, just try to

kill Megatron, but yet then kind of turn, change

his mind. He's kind of starting to evolve just

a little bit. We're starting to see a bubble

bee that's, you know, well, maybe I shouldn't

act so rashly so quickly. Um, which is, I mean,

it's a good sign, but it's something that as

a leader, they need sooner. You know what I mean?

Um, Coming back to the whole bumble baggage thing

that that Ender has said, I mean, this is also

the reason why as a leader, he probably shouldn't

have been a leader, but it wouldn't have made

a very good story if he had been like the perfect

leader. I mean, we don't want an optimist prime

replacement. We want, you know, I think it's

It's telling to have a leader who is very flawed,

who continues to make mistakes. It does eventually

catch up with him. Things do eventually change,

but I kind of said that this is the one thing

I liked about robots in disguise is that they

were brave enough to put a leader in charge that

knew absolutely nothing of what he was doing

and was making tons of mistakes along the way

that made for a really good conflict in the story.

Absolutely. And I screwed the lineup. Yeah, that's

all right. Metalhawk, I can't deal with that

now. An Ultra Magnus line. But it works perfectly.

Yeah, it would have been awesome. Yeah. It's

like, no, wait, you're right. You're completely

right. That's absolutely, you know, what somebody's

trying to do. We need to figure out what's going

on and happen, or what's going to happen, and

we need to get ahead of it. And you're right.

At this point... it's laying the seeds of you

know what something's going on here we don't

know what but you know we should probably try

to get ahead of it before it you know nips us

in the butt and they don't they've lost a lot

of people yeah oh my god iron hide in the dino

bots the aerial bots sky links omega supreme

and now prowl like outside of wheeljack metalhawk

bumblebee and Starscream, what other Autobots

are left on this planet? Obviously not strong

enough ones, but these are of course all the

people they're naming off that they don't really

know what happened to. I mean, of course they

know about, let's see, Skylinx, he's there, but

he's been kind of, his noggin is not quite where

it should be because he was out in the signal.

And Omega Supreme, he lost his legs and... He

didn't get he just got exploded not too long

ago. So he's out and down for the count. So Yeah,

poor omega Make a supreme and not get a break.

No, he just can't catch a break First he gets

put into a cave and now he's gets his legs blown

off poor guy And then they're talking about the

the Decepticon losses, Ratbat, the Constructicons,

Bombshell, and according to Mirage down at the

pen, Shockwave, Soundwave, and the cassettes,

the triple changers. It's like somebody wants

these guys to go, you know, just tear each other's

apart. They're just, you know, picking at the

seams of everybody. But, you know, some of these

people that are, they're naming off aren't quite

dead yet. No. On both sides of the lists. Yeah,

no. Iron hide and the Dinobots are off on a makeshift

Yeah, yeah And most of those Decepticons, well

Ratbat is absolutely dead Shockwave Soundwave

cassettes triple changers they may or may not

be still alive But I like the fact that they're

having this conversation because from their point

of view yeah Something's going on, something's

going down, and we don't, you know, with the

lists getting bigger and bigger and bigger, that

does kind of make you wonder, okay, something's

going on here. Who do we point the finger at?

The mystery has been placed in front of us. It's

easy to point the usual finger at the usual suspect,

the one who has anointed himself the chosen one.

That's the obvious target. Yeah. He's just that

guy that everybody wants to point the finger

at. I mean, including, you know, Windblade. Yup.

Yup. He's just so easy to point the finger at.

I mean, Starscream just, like, begs it, you know?

Please let me be responsible for all of these

terrible things, even though he's really trying

to be responsible for the right things. He's

just going about it the wrong way. Mm -hmm. And

yeah, I will say on this page here where we get

to Starscream and his glowing eyes I'll say one

thing. I love how they incorporate the symbols

because there's a giant it's like one of the

Decepticons giant spray painted a giant black

Decepticon symbol on that purple wall in the

background It's very subtle, very much supposed

to be. This is the Decepticon side of things.

At this point, Starscream is like, he keeps wavering

between who he's going to be loyal to. It depends

on who's going to be loyal to him. He will hang

out with the Autobots, the Nails, the Decepticons.

You're not quite sure at this point. I mean,

he just wants the attention. He wants the power.

And he's like catering to everybody and getting

absolutely nothing from anyone. It's it's it's

hilarious because he's trying so hard. You know,

you want it. And then, of course, like I said,

we got spotlight Megatron and we saw how that

dynamic is. He's trying so hard to get above

where Megatron has put him for the last million

years as as the guy that will just never win.

Mm hmm. And this is just a testament to how much

he's trying so hard, and everybody's like, yeah,

whatever. We get the epic speech, and they just

laugh in his face and walk away. And it's just

like, oh my gosh, poor Starscream. I mean, sympathetic

characters, like you said before, he's turned

into a sympathetic character because you feel

kind of like, yeah, Starscream, you're doing

it the wrong way, but you kind of like, you know,

a star for effort, right? Yep, absolutely. I

do like how the artists have used the War for

Cybertron body, because if you look at the one

panel where he says, well, we can't have that.

What are you going to do? Be inspiring. On the

very edge of that panel, it's very much the War

for Cybertron design. And then you get back to

after he makes the speech. And everybody walks

away from him you get to the next panel where

he says no It's specifically the g1 head so he's

a g1 head on a war for Cybertron body Yeah, which

is which is really really cool and interesting

I find it super creepy when he's smiling a Validation

not for the methods that just creeps me out the

way that he's you know hey let's all be buddy

buddy he's so full of himself it just goes to

show Andrew Griffith really knows how to do sleazy

yes he does sleazy Starscream really really well

because all of his smiles come off as self -centered

sleazy they it's so him and you're like wow in

the expression he just got the right expression

absolutely so I love the line. Blow it out your

sprocket, chosen one. All I can think of is,

okay, where's Spacely? Where's George Jetson?

That's a brilliant line. Yeah, nice try, Screamer.

Megatron! Megatron! He's like, ahh! I mean, coming

out of this and then, of course, having... If

we're looking back on this, then we later get

Megatron, the spotlight Megatron, where you see

the dysfunctional relationship between Starscream

and Megatron. I'm sure it was such a slap to

the face to have that. I mean, it almost adds

more of a depth of how. crazy dysfunctional and

and abusive their relationship is to have everybody

turn to the the abuser that's been abusing you

for your pretty much long existence That must

have been really low blow Yeah Yeah So we get

back to oh so He talks about his people won't

follow him. The only friend I have doesn't even

trust me. Wheeljack tells him, I trust you. Really?

They go off and have this nice conversation.

You know, I really like, like this because Wheeljack,

you get what you get with him. He's not, he doesn't,

he's not like a manipulative guy. If he says

he'll trust you, then he trusts you. And he kind

of does. I mean, Will Jack has kind of embraced

that out of all of the Autobots. I think he's

the one I believe the most that has really embraced

this idea that we are all together and in it

together. He's that guy that, and they just pull

off that really, really well. I mean, he does.

He follows Starscream to a point where then he

gets interrupted and Starscream goes off to Sulk.

Well, not to Sulk, actually. Starscream goes

off to do his thing and Wheeljack gets interrupted,

uh, about other things. And so, you know, his

attention pulls away from, from the guy that

he's trying to convince, Hey dude, I'd trust

you. Just, you know, don't be so bent down on

everything. And, you know, it, things get interesting

here because, uh, Prowl has disappeared. He was

in the bed Bay and somehow he got out of his

CR chamber. And they don't know where he went

to. They're like, well, he couldn't have done

it by himself. That should have been a clue right

there. They're like, well, he's not here. Then

they try to find him and they go try to find

him in his own quarters. And guess what? This

is the first time they've tried to see him in

his own quarters. And it's a dead zone. And I

thought, huh, somebody really doesn't want to

be seen. Does he? But a lot of somebody's don't

really want to be seen. I, this is so brilliant

because I mean, now going back and rereading

this and going, geez, so perfect because he's

the head of security basically on the planet.

And of course the head of security would be able

to, to have areas where he doesn't want watched

and his quarters would be one of them. And it

makes sense. The black room, his quarters would

be where everybody's hanging out. So yeah, I

like the fact that Jack. Wheeljacket is like

hitting the iPad or whatever the pad version

is like what's wrong in this thing? It's like

well, dude if it's blacked out right in the middle.

It's not because of the pad It's probably the

person think about it. It's prowl here, so Yeah

Yeah, so he goes off to go find him which Inner

monologue yeah, will Jack if you just had this

inner monologue Little bit before that, you might

have avoided the situation that you get yourself

into. Oh, goodness. While he's driving past McAdams,

we got to step in the McAdams and see how that

crew is doing, because riots, things are getting

heated outside. The Decepticons, after Starscream

fails at his attempt to rally... the Decepticons

to him decide that, you know what, we're going

to go and start protesting and tensions are very

high. And, uh, everybody is aware of it, both

on the Decepticon and the Autobot side, because

that's why McAdams is getting boarded up. And

those people inside are staying there. So. Yup.

Um. Blur, you know, yeah. Good head on his shoulders,

right? Yeah, I don't know what it is about Blur

in comics. I can't... I wish maybe Sean Lee or

Chris Mowry, the letters would basically not

slur Blur's letters, but instead of putting a

space between your and welcome, have it just

be... All one sentence all because I can't hear

I can't hear machete in my head. I am reading

blur. I've never Considered the IDW blur to be

anywhere near that voice to be honest. Really?

Yeah I kind of think that that's something that

worked great in g1. I do not think it carries

well in comic form I know that the g1 is out

there just like ah blasphemy, but he just does

not come across as that guy he does not come

across as that voice at all. I mean, at least

in IDW stuff, I, I just, I've never heard him

that guy. I, I kind of think it's a little bit

of a gimmick that he doesn't need to have to

be tied to. And I kind of like the fact that

that's not what he's tied to. He's more of a,

a sportsy kind of, I'm The way that they pulled

him off in the IDW version of him, he seems to

be like that sportsman guy that everybody's like,

you know, hey, wants to be friends with, especially

the swerve thing, which really works. Less swerve.

But it's just like, it's that guy that everybody

wants to be friends with because he was somebody

before the war. And yeah. I just don't hear him

as being that, but I gotta be really fast. Yeah.

Yeah. I think there was only one point in the

G1 cartoon where Mashida ever slowed him down

and actually spoke silly, you know, word for

word, you know, one word at a time. Um, and I

can hear that kind of thing when, when, when

he does that. Um, but yeah, I agree. Uh, jazz

on the other hand, that's so scat man. Chili

blur, my man. That is so scat man. That is so

scat man, Carothers. It works for that character.

It really does. It doesn't. It's not something

that ever gets old to me. Jazz seems to that

really, really works, especially when he's sporting

a nice big electro bass and guns. Yeah. Chili

blur, my man. Chili. With who? Chili. They've

got to have a cool guy with cool lines, so jazz

just works. So Blur mentions that he wishes that

he found Ironhide out in the wilderness because

they could really use the old guy. And then all

of a sudden the Master Assassin shows up. How

does she get in there? She's a Master Assassin.

She's a ninja. She can get into anywhere, right?

I like this because this is the, this is her

backup plan. This is her backup plan. Well, and

actually going and reading it a second time,

it was like, it could be half her backup plan

and half trying to get manipulation. But I think

it's more toward, she really wants these guys

to know guys, hello, I'm going to give you a

message, read between the lines, but they don't.

Yep. Yeah, um, she was trying to be subtle but

it could work both ways Maybe she wasn't I don't

know but I read it and I went, you know, I think

she's trying to be both There's like I said,

there's a secret message in what she's trying

to tell them and They don't get it They don't

get the memo because they show up at the end.

You're like, oh gosh, man. I said just not showing

up that way Yeah Yeah But brilliant. Don't shoot

at anything that's pink, you know? So in that

case, don't shoot at Starscream shoulder pads.

It's glowing purple. Yeah. He's got energon in

his veins. So we find out where Starscream is

off to. He's going to go talk to Megatron. Of

course, they're like, no, you can't go in there.

He's like, come on. He's like, please, don't

tell me that you aren't interested to hear this

conversation, right? And I love, when we get

to it, Wheeljack's inner monologue, but I do

love Starscream's line, well, well, well. Oh

well well, it's time we had a chat. He comes

in there so smug and the next issue is like,

get me out of here, he smiled! He had absolutely

no control of the situation. Starscream, you

fool. Don't walk in there unless you know that

if he smiles he ain't gonna pee your pants. So

we get wheeljack he's on he's got another he's

got a bigger mess to clean up Not only a bigger

mess, but he's he's off to find out if I find

Prowl's secret black room and he rolls right

into a Riot basically. In fact, he's the match

that lights the riot Yeah wheeljack at first

I thought he was gonna be decent at Trying to

settle down the crowd when he says No, it doesn't

have to be like this. We can live together I

really want to settle down after everything that

had been happening, you know The fact that people

Decepticons left and right were getting offed

and Prowl was the person that they kept on pointed

finger at there's no way I think even the best

perfect Little Autobot that came in there said

hey guys, let's be friends They were just gonna

get ticked. These are rioters I mean they that

I did not in any way or form think that any Autobot

could have come in here and calm them down because

they're upset they have a right to be because

Crap has been happening to them for the last

12 issues I mean, it doesn't matter that to them

that you know Prowl was you know, had a face

full of explosives this last time. The point

is that Prowl went in there guns blazing and

a lot of the people in the Decepticon pen supposedly

are dead. The Decepticons believe it. The Autobots

believe it. Everybody believes it. So tensions

are really high. The sad part about it is that

Wheeljack is just in the wrong place at the wrong

time. Yes, he is very much so. I don't think

anybody else could have been in that position

better than Wheeljack. It just worked. Yeah,

and I mean, damn, they decimate him. Yeah, he's

gonna get his butt kicked. I mean, these Decepticons

pretty much do exactly what the Autobots did

to Megatron. Yeah. Wow, that blast is amazing.

Actually, no, wait, that's not it's not a blast

on him. That's oh, that's that's when last on

that's when somebody comes to his rescue the

one person Looking for which happens to be prowl

in his redesign Yeah, I'm good way to end it

but at the same time is like Geez yeah, I mean

I like that but because do we know by now that

bombshell is controlling him. No I think another

issue later. Yeah. Um, uh, I do like that, you

know, he does say, uh, the septicons, you were

all under arrest. I invite you to resist that

line. Had to have it in there, right? Yup. It

was a really good, um, kind of hook for the next

issue. Cause you're like, okay, stuff is about

to go down. Cause you don't get a redesign like

that and not use it. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

But there were bigger things to reveal in the

next issue. That was just a little taste. The

taste of things to come. Oh, and things just

continue to go. I mean, yeah, yeah, this is like,

everything is set. It's about to go off. And

that's, this was that issue. So great way to

start this volume though. absolutely absolutely

so at the end of issue 12 we have the bee cover

in the trade and it's bumblebee and a bunch of

other bumblebee warpath is the only one I can

really make out besides bumblebee For issue 13

We've got prowl on the cover. Oh, yeah with a

Lot of guns a lot of guns. Yeah, I Mean those

are like Omega Supreme size guns Yes, so we get

to in issue 13 we get to see Starscream and Megatron's

chat and It's mostly Starscream doing all the

talking. Yeah, of course it would just be Starscream

doing all the talking because, like, he doesn't

know how to, you know, not speak what's on his

mind, in a sense. He wants to be in charge and

he doesn't want Megatron to screw it all up.

And Megatron is gonna do what he's gonna do.

He doesn't say anything, he just gives a smirk

and that's enough to just unsettle Starscream.

in all the right ways. I mean it's it's one of

those things where on this page it has it has

three panels of Megatron just laying there and

he's just you know frowning as all hell and I'm

the chosen one we're going to win because of

me blah blah blah blah blah and of course the

irony of that is Megatron just sitting there

going you dope I'm gonna smile right now Works

so perfectly Yeah, and and the star screens reaction

is priceless Wow He's got a plan he's he's always

had a plan come on. It's Megatron He doesn't

have to say anything. He's not dumb enough to

reveal all his cards. But you know what? Starscream

kinda is. Like, you're gonna ruin everything!

Please don't ruin everything! Smile. Ah! Let

me out of here! That's great. I, um... I wish

Warpath talked a little more. Yeah. I'm waiting

for wham -blam -o! Yeah, and then at this end

of this scene, what's gonna end up happening

before the end of this issue is just gonna get

exploded. Yeah. Yeah. Because things are rioting

outside and... They are on their way to free

Megatron. And that is exactly where Starscream

is with these guys. There's only a small few

Autobots that are... I kind of look at it as

like their forces are kind of spread thin. They've

lost quite a few people that can help keep things

together. And these just handful that are here

are here to keep the... The jail cells watched

which happened to be filled with Decepticons

like you know Crap now my brain is gonna not

work for me the animals Give me a second it's

on the tip of my tongue No edit there's blitzwing

there's oh not mind wipe damn it i know who that

guy is because i've seen him in g1 we are so

known on the verge of anything yes i know i'm

like going ah flipping through pages going where

is his name i know they said it ah So yeah, we

get to the room oil. There you go turn turn oil

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say turmoil

who's like, you know, he's got an art a turret

for for an arm Who will Jack, you know happen

to best but you know, hey, yeah, I'm sure he's

looking for a little bit of payback And on the

way there, we run into, of course, you know,

basically Starscream wants to leave and they're

like, hey, yeah, we're going to be lucky if any

of us make it out of this because there's a riot

on its way here. And I think they get it. You

know, they're like, ah, crap. We've got the video

outside is basically showing that they've got

people coming right up to their door and they've

got a problem. So yeah. So we get to prowl and

wheeljack and Prowl he's his alt mode is pretty

much a combination of a sleek police car and

a armored police carrier Yeah, I like his I like

the alt mode. I like how it turned. I like what

it turns into he does not he looks beefy Yeah,

he looks like You don't want to mess with them

You really don't want to mess with them. No.

Um. But I believe that at this point they're

on their way to the dark room, right? I think

so, yeah. He's basically leading Wheeljack out

of harm's way. He's, he's leading him out of

the frying pan into the fire. And it just seems

like, oh, you know, Prowl, he's helping out his

buddy, you know, good things are happening. I

mean, the audience is, you know, looking at him

as like the right, the good guy that's like just

meeting his friend out of arm's way. No. Yeah.

I don't look at him like that. I did, because

I had no idea what was going to happen next.

I knew something was wrong here because of a

few lines. Where are we going? To the black room.

It's time you learned what's going on. And everybody's

like, yay, your father can find out what's going

to happen. But you're right. Yeah. Just from

the perspective of Wheeljack, you know, following

along with him, because he's been narrating this

whole kind of, you know, two issue story here

a little bit. I knew as soon as Prowl mentions

the black room, I don't know what that is, I

don't know what the hell we're gonna learn there,

but I know something's wrong, especially when

Wheeljack tells him, you're creeping me out.

Or the fact that he's trying to convince him,

look Wheeljack, it's me. I know I look different

and maybe I've acted a little different, but

I'm Prowl. How many steps ahead do I play the

game? I mean, he's convincing. Wheeljack, which

he's doing a really good job of it. I mean, it

is prowl, but it's prowl being controlled by

somebody else. But you're wondering just how

far that is going because at this point we, you

know, we're of course looking back and, and.

You know, we know what's going to happen because

we've read ahead, obviously, and it's been a

good year since then. So, but when I remember

when I was reading this going something's. Not

right either either we're gonna find out that

he's Aligned with something because at this point

everybody was wondering is he going Decepticon

is he on is he flipping sides? It you know what's

going on with Prowl and people some people were

not happy with it But like I was like, okay,

let's see what direction he's going Because either

we're gonna find out that he's all on his own

and he's gonna reveal that he's got an assassin

that he's done all of this stuff And he's done

it for the Autobot cause or he's just simply

gone gone gone to Decepticon Yeah, pretty much

And of course they leave it hanging, you know,

he gets there. He opens the door click He says

are you with me big blinding light and then we

go to somebody else where the McAdams people

are trying to, to, you know, keep from getting

their getting invaded and RC who's now got a

knife pointed at Blurr's, you know, neck because,

you know, hey, why would we trust this chick?

Right? She's psycho. Yeah. I like the fact that

he's like, Hey, I'm much faster than you. I could

take you out. And she's like, yeah, well, I could

take out all these other people before you did

that. Mm -hmm. It's like I'm not gonna go for

you. Of course. I'm not gonna go for you I'm

gonna go for where it really hurts all the people

that you care about She's so twisted what I love

about the the riots outside trying to get into

Mac Adams is Reminds me of like when you see

those Most shocking or most daring kind of you

know, it it's kind of these shows are kind of

like Wildest police videos kind of like that

kind of show What this reminds me of is people

in England arguing over soccer Brazil or some

sort of soccer team lost Yeah, or some play was

called wrong and they're not happy about it so

Just love the fact that you know she's like hey

she brings in dirge and swindle. They're like

what huh? What's going on here? Like I need you

to get these guys to headquarters because they

have they have They can basically prove info

that that Prowl is not on their side. He's been

making mistakes, and he's he's doing dark things

and You know Bumblebee needs to know it because

he's not gonna believe me He doesn't even know

I exist. Why would he trust me? And they're like,

uh, but you, you, he'll, he'll trust you because

you're blur, right? You used to be one of them

until you quit because, you know, and you owe

me. Cause I saved your life with the constructicons

got, came at you. And he's like, Oh, really?

Okay. Probably left you there to die. I saved

your butt. So, you know, you owe me. Just love

the fact that at that point and he's like, okay,

how do we get out of here? It's like I leave

that to me and she's gonna go outside and you

know That's where she's like, hey shoot at anything

that isn't pink. Yeah before she does that There's

guys standing out on the other side of that wall.

She puts her knife through there. Yeah Yeah,

she can see through that wall, you know she The

comedic factor if that was Well, think about

this. You've seen a lot of old classic cartoons,

right? Yeah. Like Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry

and all this and all that. I look at this scene

and I see a classic cartoon where Bugs Bunny,

Bugs Bunny would be the better example here.

It's in one of the ones where it's him versus

Gossamer, the giant red hairy monster. And you

hear through musicals and sound effects the steps

that Gossamer is taking and the steps that Bugs

is taking. He ends up on a step. He traces Gossamer's

outline, grabs a giant mallet and whaps the wall

because he can hear him on the other side and

he falls right out. This is exactly what this

reminds me of is because if you think about it...

All the people outside are making noise because

they want to get in because they want to you

know kill whoever's in McAdams So you think that

well RC's she's she might be psycho, but she

ain't dumb She can hear you know she is old as

iron hide. She hasn't lost her hearing Don't

mess with her man. No not at all Assassin ninja

girl you know yeah, she you know Yeah, so that's

what they're gonna. Do they're gonna. She's gonna

I we don't actually see how she breaks out of

here and gets them through But yeah So we get

back to bumblebee he's telling everybody to go

home No, do all these people actually have all

the the nails and the other Decepticons that

aren't in prison, do they actually have homes

in A - because Iacon doesn't - if Iacon's the

only city in Cybertron, it doesn't look as big

as it should be, I guess, to me. I don't know.

It's just a little - a little strange that we

would tell them to go home. Well, do they actually

have homes? That's - that - I don't know. I mean

it's not like you're on a ship and you have hab

suites. Yeah. So we get Bumblebee and Metalhawk

and they're arguing and you know Metalhawk tells

them your spark was in the right place. This

is probably the first time Metalhawk's actually

said something nice to Bumblebee to be honest.

Yeah, that's true. And part of it, I think, might

be is because Starscream is not there with them,

because usually it's the three of them, you know,

just building off each other, right? But, you

know... There's one... I believe it's a design

flaw because I don't particularly like it. It

doesn't look logical at all to me that Metalhawk's

wings are on his hands or on his wrists. It's

like he's got large spears off his wrists. Yeah,

he can't exactly fit into an elevator with those

things. He's got to have a lot of time than Ultra

Magnus to be honest. Yeah. He just slices the

door open so he can get in. Yeah, that's true.

So we get the two of them arguing back and forth,

back and forth. Think is even more than that.

I think it's bumblebees like, you know it this

is all over with we're gonna we're gonna have

We're gonna have elections and he's he basically

says that metal Hawk has the numbers He can he

could take it and he'd rather see him Like, you

know in Starscream Starscream. Yeah I'm trying

to let's see here. I'm trying to figure out who

is doing the narrating now Um, I think it is.

Is it still Wheeljack? No. Metalhawk, my friend,

flying off to place blame on anyone but himself,

I presume. Or maybe the time for blame is over.

Maybe he's trying to help. I think it's Starscream.

I think it's Starscream. Yeah, probably. It sounds

like Starscream, you know. But that's not my

fault. But that's not my nature, as is it, as

my friend would be the first to point out. But

there are always other ambitions. It's, it's

Starscream. He's talking about ambition. He's

talking about, you know, he does. It's, it's

interesting because, you know, I've had this

conversation where, you know, especially when

blade, because we just finished reviewing that

just this last month, um, how Margaret has said

that like the closer that he gets to people,

the less he trusts people. You know, metalhawk

is that guy that he gets. pretty close to, I

mean, not necessarily really close to, but just

like sees him as who he is. But there's an end

game to that in this volume as well. You know,

I think he doubts whether or not Metalhawk really

trusts him. But I think, or even that he's really

his friend, but I think he finally realized that

in this volume that, you know, Metalhawk really

is trying to be his friend. But it doesn't matter

too much. No, it doesn't. So we get back to...

Okay, so we're with Starscream. He's back at

the jail, basically, seeing that Littlehawk is

on his way. But it's kind of a bad timing, because,

yeah, the... The rioters are just about ready

to break in and they do and they do in a consuming

fashion Yeah, and they take everybody out except

they walk right past Starscream as if he's not

a threat I love that, you know needle -nose get

out of my way. You know, he's Just right walking

right past him like nothing It's like they assume

he's still Decepticon They kind of do but in

a coward like way because he's not joining one

way or the other. He's basically become a fence

sitter, I guess, in their eyes because he's hanging

out with the Autobots, but he's not lifting a

finger to stop them or help the cons. So it's

like, yeah, basically, I think they see him for

what he is, is he's just not sure where he is,

but he's definitely not theirs. He's a coward.

I mean, that's why, you know. That's why the

turmoil calls him a coward. You know, everybody's

calling him a coward. They just like they do.

They do not give him any credence. It's like

all of the things that he's done for the last,

you know, whatever years is everybody's just

looking at him like you're whatever. We're not

going to pay any attention to you whatsoever,

which I think in a sense is one of the worst

things that they could do to him without shooting

him or putting him lumping him in with the with

the Autobots is basically just paying him no

mind. Um, I can't think of a worse way for them

to, to slap him in the face any more than that,

you know, because he wants so much attention

and he wants to be the boss. And yet they're

just, they look at him as a bumbling idiot. It's

great. So needle nose comes in here and he frees

Megatron and Megatron gets up. He's like, good.

This is, you know, when he said good, I just,

I thought of, you know, the emperor from. Star

Wars. Good. You know, he's, I just like how he

said that. Open the other sales, free your brothers.

Follow me, my Decepticons. If it was only one

other line, I could make a Simpsons reference.

Cause if they switch that from good to excellent,

I can so see this Megatron, uh, uh, you know,

holding his hands up, you know, putting his fingers

together. Doing that has fingers that character.

Yeah. Yeah. Good old mr. Burns. Yep All right,

so they are gonna go to the black room We know

that was changing because at this point we had

no idea What the black room was gonna entail

we were guessing this not gonna be what we expect

Prowl left us hanging then we get Megatron say

follow me to the black room Everything leads

to that black room. And so that was another gotcha.

Well What? You know, reading that and saying,

follow me to the black room. Things are about

to go off. And I was just thinking here, I was

like, guess what? We're either, it's going to

end up being the cliffhanger of the issue, or

they're not going to actually show us the black

room till the next issue. So frustrating, isn't

it? It's the buildup. It's, it's, it's stringing

us along. This was so much, it was so great to

read this. Um, cause it was just like after uh,

11 issues of, of setup to have all of this start

kicking off the way it was. It's like, give,

uh, John is like a pressure cooker. Just let

it kind of slowly build up to this thing and

then it gets heat and then it just burns a long

time. Yes, it does. Uh, so we get to Metalhawk

and Metalhawk is going to be the David Letterman

of Cybertron. He's not funny enough to be David

Letterman. Okay. When did, do we know off top

of our head what month this issue came out? Uh,

I believe, let's see, it's issue 13. I think

it was either January. Yeah, it was January.

January of, uh... I don't remember what year.

Give me a second. I think it was 13? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, January 2013. All as I can think of is

like in say like before in between put a line

in between people of Iacon and this is not the

way people of Iacon I send you this message because

this is not basically he's the optimist prime

Not the IDW optimist, but the the other one the

one that is more ruthless Yeah, just in his words

only so I like the Data pad that they have and

it's all scratchy. Yeah They did a brilliant

job pulling that off. I mean make it look kind

of like it's a broadcast They did a great job

with that So he gives a speech so last last issue

we had us a Starscream speech this issue we get

the metal hawk speech and earlier this this issue

we almost had a bumblebee speech even though

it failed yeah yeah it's act stop yelling at

people from the balcony the whole time it doesn't

work oh god bumblebee is juliette who the hell

would be romeo Talk about some big baggage. Yeah

So we get to be given the speech and while he's

given the speech We've got Megatron and the dudes

going to the black room and they arrive Welcome

at last. He's like what no no as a Starscream

was dragon drug along with them Not necessarily

kicking and screaming but just like drug along

with them Yeah And we get to the black room and

we get the reveal. We open up the door. We've

got, you know, Starscream's reaction I think

was probably better than anything else. You know,

Microtron's like, ah, warm welcome at last. Cause,

you know, coming there, coming into Iacon to

begin with, he got shot at, right? So he's finally

going to get his warm welcome in the black room.

And Starscream sees everything and says, no,

no. And. Megatron says, oh yes, Starscream, oh

yes. And we've got basically everybody that we

thought was dead is in the black room, and Prowl,

who happens to have Wheeljack at gunpoint. Oh

yeah. That's one hell of a way to... That was

a good way to end that issue. That was like,

oh no, you're not going to make me wait another

month for the next issue. And yeah, we kind of

had to. We've got the cassette. Frenzy and Rumble.

We've got the Constructicons, Shockwave, Soundwave,

Laserbeak. Is that Astro Train in the back? I

think so. Yes. Yeah, it's a... Ravage is there

too. Wait, where's... I saw Laserbeak. Where's

Ravage? Ravage is on the other side of the page.

Oh, yeah, I see. He's over... He's over my Wheeljack.

Yeah, that's awesome. That's one thing I wish

they would do. Oh, and Bombshell too. Yeah. Bombshell's,

or is he in there? Yeah, he's there. He's on

the shockwave. He's between the Frenzy and Rumble.

Yep. Um, that's one thing I wish they would do.

I wish they would do a... I don't, I don't know

if they would do a mini series or... I wish they

would do a mini series that has... Sound wave

setting up each issue in the beginning, but then

it would be all about the cassettes going off

and doing their own missions. Cause honestly,

they don't get enough love. I mean, they just,

they don't. True. Um, usually they're getting

their arms cut off by RC. Yeah. See I wish that

we didn't have I Wish in the IDW universe that

rewind was not a memory stick. I Wish that we

had eject ram horns like I wish we had the traditional

stuff here a little bit more with blaster I mean,

I love all the stuff with rewind and chrome dome

and all that but like I would love to see a cassette

wars Miniseries, I really would get there eventually

I mean they are doing a Combiner Wars. Combiner

Wars, yeah. So we'll see what they, they could

just take something outside the box and do that,

but yeah. I like the last line though that we

have of this issue is like, thanks to your help

Starscream, tonight Cybertron finally, irrevocably,

belongs to Megatron. So basically because of

Starscream doing all of his stuff, he's been

the distraction to help. Make it so that they

could put things in place like this and I was

like what a way to stab it to the guy He's been

working for his own means and it actually was

just furthering Megatron's Yep, I mean Starscream

honestly Starscream is the guy really that just

can't catch a break. No He's not even catching

a break a year later. People are still pointing

fingers at him in Windblade Mean you think that

it's getting old but it never kind of gets old

because he's just that guy that you want to see

fail Even though every once in a while he does

win, but he does get a break at the end of this

volume He does he does a break. He just gets

different one at different times for different

reasons So we get Casey and Joanna's cover be

for issue 13 on the trade. It's Oh, man. Megatron

and Prowl one? No, that's for issue 14. Issue

13 was cover B. Oh, that's right. The Decepticons

in front of McAdams. It was the riots. Yeah.

But yeah, yeah. Issue 14 now, we get to Andrew

and Josh Perez. Andrew here with Josh Perez,

Megatron and Prowl. And we basically get the

first really... Look at the G1 IDW Megatron.

Yeah He's back in his old body again or yeah

It wasn't in that last page, but like we're right.

We're getting the tease. This was in the solicitations

I believe and people are like, oh, yeah, the

south the solidifies it prowls with Megatron

You know, especially since you can't see an Autobot

signal or Autobot sign on him You know, it was

like everybody was like, uh, uh, Prowl's, this

is what got some people that were like, that's

not Prowl. That's not Prowl. It can't, you know,

he would never side with Megatron. That got people

up and uppity about it. But, you know, it kind

of did reveal something, but it didn't tell everything.

Issue 14 was the one that kind of changed everything.

You know, it's like, guys, guys, it's John. Give

a little bit of faith. Exactly. Let him tell

his story that you don't know all the details.

So. And that's the thing about these writers,

both James and John. Well, James always plants

seeds in the very beginning and then he pays

them off one to two years later John the same

thing a little bit maybe a little bit less than

James, but yeah, I mean Sometimes even a couple

issues later I mean he he does both where he's

needed stuff and he plays a long game with some

of them But sometimes there's the three or four

issue arc where he plants a few things and he

pays off I mean, I think With James, he kind

of knows how to seed and get a quick payoff.

And then, of course, the long payoff as well.

And I think that John is doing that as well.

I mean, we get a longer payoff, of course, with

Prowl. But there was a shorter one with Megatron

because when he came back, we weren't sure if

he was going to officially really come back or

if it was just going to be one of those things.

When he came back, I remember reviewing it at

the time. I think, and I remember Matt saying

this because he thought it was too soon. He was

like, no, no, no, no, this is too soon for Megatron.

This is too soon. But then at the end of this

arc, everybody was like, yeah, it was it. The

way that it played out just worked. Absolutely.

So it was like, you know, seeing that wrap up.

I mean, it didn't actually, you know, we thought,

oh, okay. Issue. I think he came back in 12.

We were wondering if issue 13, he was going to

proper be back, but he appeared at the end of

11. That was the cliffhanger between 11 and 12

at the end of 11 is when Megatron appeared. And

then 12 was the payoff of him coming back. Well,

in the, in the arc goes to issue 16, which is

like, you know, this house. 12, that was 12 issues.

And that was a December we had been, we had been

following this for a year. Then we had issue

13, 14, 15, things kind of wrapped up pretty

much in 16. So that was almost half a year, like,

you know, that January, February, March, April,

May, it was in June by time we got that. So it's

like, it didn't just wrap up right away. It drug

out a little bit, but it was such a great. you

know, three issue or a three issue. Let's see

here. One, two, three, four, five issue arc that

it just really worked. Absolutely. And with issue

14, we start off with circuit for the Iacon news

service. I love doing this. Did John intentionally

name it the INS? Did he really attend intentionally

name it the INS? What it was the reference to

the icon icon news service as in the immigration

and naturalization Service the INS. Oh, no, I

That's a good question. I don't know. It's something

I could we could have we'd have to ask So we

open with circuit and metalhawk outside of McAdams

I love the fact that they have these two news

guys walking around. I mean, if anything, what

could make Cybertronian life more Cybertronian

life without having a journalist and a newscast

team in these two characters? And I love it because

it just brings this human element to them that

I think is relatable in a sense. Because, I mean,

even as, you know, Metalhawk is giving this report.

They drop him right away for something else happening

not too far away. And it's like, wait, wait,

wait, I wasn't finished with what I was saying.

Ah, we got bigger stories to go tell. It just,

I just, I liked it. I really liked how they did

this. It just seemed to work. Look at the look

on his face. Metalhawk's like, yeah. Well, fine

then. Be that way. Um, so we get Metalhawk talking

to Bumblebee. About Starscream being at the prison

with the Autobot security team and the Decepticon

mob and all that. And that's when Blur brings

in... Yeah. Durg and Swindle and things get put

in place. They don't read between the lines.

Nope. Oh goodness. Poor Bumblebee, played like

a violin. Yeah, he... Mean the guy can't he can't

even transform. He can't even move I mean he

has got so much baggage on his back. I cannot

do a single thing Whiplash he just got whiplash

is all he got and a crunched head, but we'll

get to that Really? You said whip last year reminds

me of the moment in the very first Justice League

episode where Superman flies off really fast

and Batman whips his head around like where is

he going? They didn't tell Bumblebee about the

black room. That's the other thing. It's funny.

It's like, yeah, no, they did fix it and Wheeljack

find that Prowl's missing and They go to like

his room and it happens to be blacked out They

didn't tell Bumblebee because then he turns abroad

said hey, you know Can you get a hold of Prowl?

And he, of course, doesn't, you know, he says

Prowl's not responding in his quarters, Bumblebee.

There's no signal at all. It's a dead zone. No

cameras, nothing. They didn't even have the time

to tell Bumblebee. Fixit didn't tell him. Wheeljack

didn't send a memo. Poor Bumblebee. Still not

getting all of the information until after the

fact. He's just... Bumblebee is so in the dark

this entire run. He really is. I love how Swindle

tries to speak up and tell the story. Shut up,

Swindle. This is my point. Durge. I love that.

Yeah. I do really love that. I love those two.

Durge and Swindle. An odd couple, but they just

worked. It was great. Well, I guess I shouldn't

like, you know, get too upset at Bumblebee because,

you know, Metalhawk doesn't know anything going

on either because he's like, hey, I'm coming

with you. I'd like answers. So, yeah. Um, so

we get Blur and Sideswipe. Uh, Blur is talking

about, uh, the fact that Prowl tried to use the

Decepticons as a police force. Or not Prowl.

Oh, Starscream and Ratbat, and then Peral, okay.

And Bumblebee says, that doesn't make the slightest

bit of sense. Nothing in this story makes sense.

It's good. Yeah, well, it's not supposed to make

sense to you, Bumblebee, because if you had all

the answers and it made all sense, then you'd

already know that what you're walking into is

a trap, and you wouldn't do it. I mean I think

if I remember right I think he does at some point

says I think we're walking into a trap well at

least he has enough sense to know that but if

that was the case and why didn't you bring an

army with you and I love how shockwave even though

we've only just seen him recently I love how

he's just standing in the background not doing

nothing That's because he has a long game, too.

Yeah, he has his own agenda Yeah, and this only

furthers his agenda because again distractions

upon distractions upon distractions He's playing

that game, too Yeah, this is a distraction from

what he's got going on and I like the fact that

even I can't remember what which issue it was

But they said yeah Start they're talking about

whether or not they're gonna win and shockwave

says. Oh, yes, you will win We will be winning

because he already has seen the future. He knows

what's going to happen. Yeah. And they had faith

in that. Cause like when shockwave says, yes,

we will win. You just believe him because he's

shockwave. Yeah, because he's shockwave. Um,

so we get to go back to the black room, go back

to the black room. Um, you know, talk about answers.

RC is talking about turmoil and sky war. that

they're leading the troops into position, everybody

else should be here any minute. Megatron is talking

about his body is not going to last much longer.

Do you think Bombshell is stupid enough to try

to put some sort of controlling agent, like to

put a Cerebro shell in Megatron's new body? Because

the way he's looking here he's he's holding his

hands like mr. Burns in the Simpsons and he says

I believe I can find something more suitable

my lord I Think it depends on who made it. I

think because the original body that he was in

at this point That's falling apart was made by

shockwave. So I don't think that there'd be anything

in there Shockwave would need to control Megatron.

Yeah, it would make sense if it was Mm -hmm.

I mean it really kind of would but I don't know

if he'd be dumb enough to try to try that on

Megatron But it's bombshell we're looking at

and he would take an opportunity I think he might

but I Mean, well if it's something if it's a

seed of something maybe somebody else could come

and build off of eventually Yeah, I mean bombshell

isn't really a threat After this volume At least

not right now. I mean, hey, no one stays dead

forever. I don't know. Those insecticons and

beast hunters, they kind of stayed dead forever.

But then again, that was Margarine. She loves

killing insecticons. Yeah. But you know, Scrapper

has stayed dead for quite a while. I mean, the

constructicon. Poor Scrapper. Yeah. Rip. Poor

Scrapper. Poor Scrapper. All right. So after

the bombshell scene and Megatron needing a new

body, we get to the driving scene. uh where it's

dirge swindle bumblebee blur and sideswipe you

guys need a bigger boat this is like again this

is where they say we're we're walking into a

trap it's not a trap if we know it's a trap yes

it's still a trap if you know it's a trap bumblebee

because you didn't bring more people with you

so that's one thing that i learned from optimus

prime it's not a trap if we know it's a trap

yeah You're doing it wrong still What's that

old R &B song doing it and doing it and doing

it well no doing it and doing it and doing it

wrong So we get metalhawk and he's he's here

now He joins the crew and just as they they're

Taking a moment to say, okay, let's see, you

know, where, where's everybody get at their bearings

and they get attacked by Yastrotrain. Oh, I love

what happens to Swindle. He's like, rawr! Poor

Swindle, man. It's so comical. It's just his

face. I mean this it's the call before the storm

man. It's really quiet. Yeah next page It doesn't

even like his leg got completely chopped off,

but it doesn't even show like It shows it being

chopped off, but it doesn't show where Astro

like the connection like the or the point of

astrotrain connecting with his light to get it

off, but man that is Or Swindle. It's just...

I had to laugh at this. Gotta feel... I don't

even think Fred Willard would have anything to

say. I don't know how he would... Well, that's

a disadvantage. I don't know. It just... There

was nothing to say but, rawr! His poor... Wow.

Oh, man. And then they start getting shot at.

And everybody's tight. It's almost everybody

takes a hit. Let's see. Will... Swindle gets

his leg knocked off. Metal Hawk gets shot by...

I want to say that that's... Let me see here.

Metal Hawk in the arm. Who was it that shot?

That's Blitzwing. That's what I thought. I was

going to say Blitzwing, but I thought... Yeah,

okay. That's it. It's a giant tank. And luckily

they had side swipe with them, but you know,

Mr. Gunn himself starts shooting back and probably

helps. Metal Hawk get to his feet and they, they

start evacuating basically run away, but they're

almost at the black room at this point. If they

get attacked, if you get attacked before the

black room, maybe you should rethink bringing

just the handful of people that you are to the

black room, to the black room. Ravage goes after

Sideswipe. They start going into the dark to

get there, and they get on the other side, and

ah, you know, okay, we're here. And then he get

the look of Bubblebee going, aw. He needed a

facepalm right there. He really did. Facepalm

Bubblebee right there going, oh, jeez. Oh, how

could I not? He walked into the hornet's nest,

yeah. How could I have not foreseen this? The

first thing now, he's looking at everybody. Wheeljack

gives him a warning. Bumblebee, remember what's

most important. And then BOOM! I did not see

that coming. I don't think anybody saw that coming.

Poor Wheeljack. His head is gone. What? Wheeljack?

What? Correct me if I'm wrong He at this point

will stay gone until You still haven't seen him

back. Well, we will coming up and I think is

it issue 37? No, not issue not issue 37. We're

not even that far not even that issue 33 to date

I remember the anything of him being back at

all unless right in the solicits It has. I remember

in the Solicits for Issue 33 for Robots in Disguise,

it says something about the return of Wheeljack

and him discovering the biggest mystery in Transformers

history. The only reason why I remember this

is because it sounds like Wheelie wrote the damn

Solicits. I think you're right. This is the point

that we lose Wheeljack for a good year and a

half. Yeah, that was pretty epic. I did not expect

that to happen because it was proud I mean even

at this point thinking okay He's in the black

room. He's doing all this stuff. I still wanted

to believe that he was just playing a game and

that just kind of I was like, okay, maybe he's

not Real yo, cuz I don't know if he would shoot

somebody in the head like that just to prove

a point Or just just to prove that he's on their

side if he wasn't, you know, so I just went crap

How's this going down man? Yeah, that was it

was crazy so crazy Got real really quick. I mean

it was just like they walk in Oh crap. Everybody's

here and wheeljack and what way to say the prowl.

Are you on his side? Boom Things just got real

And all and also I can think of his ultra Magnus

you're you're all alive You all died He says

I was like you all died. Yeah somewhat exaggerated

reports Yeah, where's Megatron somewhat indisposed

yeah, that's cuz he's getting a new body. Yeah

And it's not somewhat, it's it's Shockwave turning

away going, uh, do I have to explain this to

you? Yeah, really? You're mortals. Indisposed.

So. In fact, I don't think Shockwave says much

in any of this, other than the fact that Megatron

is indisposed. And it's funny that he should

be the one to say that because I'm sure that

he'd be like, he's in my way, but he's indisposed

right now. Yeah. He's the figurehead, I'm the

brains. Yep. So we get Prowl and Metal Hawk going

at each other's throats. And then Megatron shows

up with his former body and his new body as well.

That's creepy. That is really creepy. I mean,

if they're going to show, like, I mean, even

the body is somewhat gray, like... I don't know

if they were trying to make it like that. I'm

guessing, I'm guessing they probably were, but

the face, the face looks like it's been ripped

off. It's just, it's really creepy, creepy, creepy.

The ghost of Bayformer Prime came in. No, it

kind of reminds me of when Overlord took Springer's

face off and how he had it in his palm. That's

what it reminds me of. And it's just, it's just

creepy, creepy. And then the the panel where

we see bombshell you can see Megatron's the old

Megatron body The head it looks like there's

blood coming out of the top. Yeah next to bombshell.

That's crazy The glow of stuff off of bombshells.

Yeah on the body It's you making it makes you

wonder and like is he gonna take this guy out

back and eat it? He's gonna take the shell out

back and eat it melt it down for something That

line from the moon electrons electrons So this

is the issue where we get everything revealed

basically and then they go into explanations

of what has happened which There's a lot. It's

almost you almost have to go Yeah, I really have

to almost read it out loud because of everything

that's happened um because they really do do

a walk down memory lane and it really does make

sense once you get through all of it um so it's

it starts it's like okay uh it it starts with

uh megatron going back to chaos you know proper

chaos where we had devoid and everybody combined

together um We what's interesting to me is as

these this is going on we have You mentioned

earlier figure heads we have figure heads telling

the story because there's one part of the page

where Shockwave actually does pipe up and says

such yeah such unity of purpose is uncommonly

rare subsequent attempts such as swindles Ilfa

ill -fated stunta con job proved fruitless But

Megatron's discovery created an opportunity to

study the Gestalt phenomenon in nature as it

were. So basically it was the fact that when

that big devoid thing happened we had all of

the Decepticons basically combined into this

big thing and Megatron was the only one that

was not combined in it and that helped I guess

in lieu of that he used that to kind of study

on how to make combiners like combine better.

I mean, because they do point out even the stuff

that happened in the annuals where he found out

about monstructor, which was the first combiner

and it, you know, how its mind was, it was crazy,

basically insane. And then when they had Devastator

formed, they finally found one that actually

worked, that worked brilliantly. But Scrapper

got killed, so they have an opening, basically.

They don't say that, but it's implied. And that's

where Shockwave jumps in and says, you know,

unity of purpose and how that subsequent attempts

before that had not worked. And it proved fruitless.

But Megatron's discovery... Created an opportunity

to study the gestalt phenomenon in nature as

it were so while everybody was at Iacon Megatron's

out in the wilderness he wakes up and he starts

studying this and because his body Had been combined

well not necessarily his body even combined but

because of what it was made out of the or 13

and whatnot He basically became the signal that

started Changing people and that's where the

aerial bots went out into the wilderness and

he watched them struggle and eventually Combined

because of the signal that he was sending out

That says as expected the process drove them

mad and those you sent after iron hide and the

Dinobots fared even worse their egos proved far

too strong to be subsumed They were quite dead

now, but the information we learned Provided

right vital research. So like They're basically

saying and we're finding out that you know, these

guys are dead now because of that because they

just couldn't they couldn't Be cohesive together

because of that. Um, well at least that's what

they thought Yeah, and then we find out that

you know meanwhile Prowl was helping to Do the

whole fear thing and get everybody frayed and

you know ripping at the seams of everything but

he was also being controlled by bombshell yeah

oh the other thing that they're saying is that

let's see the Titans the Titan that they found

the Metro Titan that came back and deemed Starscream

the chosen one kind of put their timetable up

a little it forced their hand so they had to

kind of step it up a little um let's see prowls

that admits that he took out omega supreme it

wasn't the decepticons that had done it um yeah

because omega supreme was in the annual and he

was the one that that stood against monstructor

when nova and jehaxis revealed that they had

made a combiner um basically turning till all

or one the Literal about that making people all

all into one till our taller one and Omega is

like, uh, that's not what that's not what that

means Yeah, so make Omega has been the guy that

stood against the combiners for Since that time

because of that so and he was the only one that

would stand against them on that as well so Yes

good, I was gonna say something that bombshell

would know because didn't he Wasn't Jaxxus and

him together for a little while so he would know

that yeah Yeah, so we get to Megatron Constructicons

Prowl all of you become one They basically say

it's time for you to say goodbye to to Prowl

Pretty much yeah, and Prowl is back for a second

it's like oh he's back for a split second oh

oh and here's another thing that was in here

this is important uh let's see where did they

set it okay I like how they revealed that. It's

like, but Prowl, why? And he's like, I'm not

Prowl. It's like, guess who has me? He's like,

I confronted him and it was Bombshell that says

it. He's been controlling him basically. And

we get the scene again where he has the gun pointed

at Bombshell. And it turns out that he had by

that time had sent a little bug and he'd been

infiltrated. Oh, I found Prowl's mind ready for

manipulation already damaged memories easy to

access. My mind is an open data pad and every

action is bombshells. So that was kind of a little,

they didn't really expound on that, but we didn't

find out. Let's see. We got robots in disguise

issue 14, which is, this is the one that we're

talking about right now. We got that the end

of February. We got a delay. in more than meets

the eye 14, because it was supposed to come out

in February. It didn't come out till March, the

first week in March. Which was the overlord issue

were the one called Remembrance Day. That was

when we found out why we had this little insecurity

in Prowl's memory is because he wanted before

the lost light took off, he approached Chrome

Dome. I guess a couple of times because in the

first issue he can you know, it tried to get

him to stay and he wouldn't do it It turns out

that he wanted to put overlord on the lost light

They had him at the time. He was locked down

and all of that stuff They still had him from

when they took him out at the end of Garrison

9 with the last of the records He wanted to put

overlord on the lost light and he wanted chrome

dome to get inside his head and find out how

a Phase Sixer was created. Chromedome turned

him down, said that he had promised to rewind,

that he was not going to do that anymore. And

then Prowl tried to kind of manipulate him with

his passive -aggressive, well, I guess, you know,

what would rewind think if he found out about

all of the stuff that you'd done? And that was

enough to push Chromedome over the edge, and

he Basically attacked prowl Took his memories

so that he couldn't use it against rewind or

against him and tell rewind things and then left

and It created an overlord use them. Yes. Well

That that happened in there. But the point was

is that he created this insecurity or this instability

in prowl that bomb bombshell was able to um,

exploit basically. And that's why they were able

to do what they did to Prowl. Cause he's got

this, you know, instability in his mind now because

of, of what Chrome Dome did. I mean, he deserved

it. I don't know. It's one of those things where

it's like two wrongs don't make a right. Because

it was wrong for Prowl to do that. It was wrong

for Chrome Dome to come back at him like that.

I think that if Chrome Dome had just been honest

with rewind and said, look, There's more crap

that I've done. I have a lot to be guilty for

as long as he stopped doing it. I think rewind

would have been all right with it, but it's that

whole, you know, it's, it's one of his greatest

weaknesses. It's the thing that he's really ashamed

of. He doesn't want to go back to doing that

type of thing. And then of course he ends up

doing it anyhow, because that's why issue 14

exists in more than meets the eye. But it was

just, they said when they. came out with these

two ongoings that they would cross over a different

and unique ways. And I really thought that that

was kind of a cool, unique way to kind of have

little crossovers between the two of them where

something that happened in one pays off in another,

but also pays off in the one that anyhow, it

was, it was just really cool to see that. I really,

really liked that. It didn't, I mean, it added

Because like I said, we got Robots in Disguise

14 first, so we didn't get more than ECI 14 until

a couple weeks later, or maybe I think a week

or two later. And it almost just created another

little thing that made me love these two issues

so much. Absolutely. Because it just added more

to it. So anyhow, they basically say that, you

know, hey, time to say goodbye to the Prowl that

you knew. And they're like, what? That's when

he shudders and falls over. And then he's like,

B, it wasn't me. How could you not see that?

Stabbed in the heart, like, oh. It's such a soap

opera moment. It is! It's such a soap opera.

It is the thing is that robots in disguise usually

doesn't have that soap opera thing going on,

right? And this is why I really liked this volume

so much. It's because you kind of get those elements

of a soap opera going on. Yeah, it's almost trying

to be more than meets the eye, but it's not trying

it is absolutely robots in disguise But it's

just playing off that a little bit It just making

it just makes me giggle a little bit to see that

he's got his own vibe going on here And it's

totally working for me. I don't feel in any way

or form He's trying to steal anything from from

John James at this point because all John it's

all John. Oh, absolutely And this is where we

get Constructagons, Prowl, all of you become

one. Prowlestator. And we see this whole big

scene of various characters and we get to the

panel where it's RC and StarStream and we see

off... We see the text coming from off panel

now. Devastate as Megatron reveals the new Devastator.

Oh my God. With a prowl face, a prowl head. That

dude is huge. That was good. This is a nice,

huge full screen or full page spread. Not two

page just one page, but still it was just like

all right craps about to happen I mean, we've

been saying that for the last two issues Devastator

prolestator, yeah We haven't seen these guys

combined since since Costa yeah, we get to broadside

and I assume that's one of the reporters, isn't

it? Yeah, he's trying, he's finding, you know,

the reporters are contacting him and telling

him what's going on, trying to get information.

And Broadside is the one that answers there.

And he's like, hold on, you know, I'll get some

eyes on the scene. And then Sky High calls in

and says, get out of there right now. and Devastator

just comes in there rips the the top off grabs

him and crunches Devastator crunches him and

the crunch the way that broadside is designed

in inside Devastator's fist All's it reminds

me of his unicorn and and the junkie on ship.

Yeah Um, so we get turmoil, uh, we're ready to

secure what's left of the city once you've made

your example and damn There's a beautiful two

-page spread of amazing Standing over there.

It's just crunching broadside while we've got

the the troops We've got turmoil and and and

um skywarp with everybody that's on their group

that have been released, just destroying, and

Needlenose, just destroying Iacon, new Iacon,

everything that's been built over the last year.

It's like, aww, so sad. The whole planet's been

reformatted, and they're rebuilding everything,

and they are just destroying the only city that

they have left. get why they don't like I get

that Cybertron was once all wilderness and then

it was once cities and now it's back to being

mostly wilderness except for Iacon I don't get

why they don't build at least two or three more

cities and I think at the time it was like they

had a few things going on like we had that whole

the wheeljack issue where they had the explosions

happening I don't think they have a lot of resources.

I think there's that as well. I think that's

actually the biggest reason why they haven't

is that's something that it's even coming into

play now. Even in the Windblade series where

they said, you guys are low on resources. We're

low on resources back on Kamenis. If we all stay

this low on resources, we're just going to end

up dwindling and just dying out. If we combine

them together, we can build something. I think

it's just low on resources. They've just come

off the end of a million that, you know, couple

million years war. I just I think the resources

are just really, really diminished. I mean, but

some of the quite a few of these buildings were

just like they were ships at one point that had

been kind of converted back into buildings. Right.

Is it HQ is in the what's left of Kimia crashed

on the planet during chaos. So So we get to Soundwave.

The highest concentrations of the Autobots is

in the Med Center. Good. Bombshell, have Devastator

annihilate them. Just go attack all the people

that are already injured. Let's just eat at the

core of their, you know, morale at this point.

This is all Megatron. I mean, this is his end

game. This is why he came back. This is the whole

point. They might have moved their timetable

up a little bit, but you know, yeah. He's pushing

for domination of what's left of Cybertron at

this point. So we get this Megatron thing, and

then we get... Him talking to Starscream, I had

such high hopes for you once. Such a belief that

one day the Decipagons would serve you. They

would have. They really would have. He's like

mumbling at this point. He's like, oh, they would

have, they would have. He's like, yeah, but yeah,

I don't anymore. You're, you're never going to

be that guy. Oh God, I can, you're right. I can

so hear Johnny Young Bosch. What are you gonna

do with us? You didn't tell us all that just

to kill us, did you? Oh, Bumblebee, who had it

all, all I've ever dreamed of and let it slip

away. He grabs him by the face, who held me in

this position and let me live. Killing you is

exactly what I shall do. Crunch! Skunk. Oh my

god. Ah. You who show no mercy. I know, right?

Yeah. Megatron shows no mercy with them. Execute

them all. He throws them away. If you look at

this, if you look at this arc that we've been

talking about here in volume four, in the very

beginning, Bumblebee was... What is Megatron?

No, seriously, you know you you know, you know,

basically, you know Megatron is saying, you know

He's in the beginning of this he's basically

saying You who are without mercy now plead for

it. I thought you were made of say he's base

It's basically Optimus Megatron with Bumblebee

and Megatron is pretty much what it is is not

No, I know that but I'm saying just the way that

the roles are in this between when Megatron first

showed up and now. It's a thinly veiled version

of stuff that we've grown up on and I think that's

why I like it so much in the sense that it's

just it's not like playing off that trope completely.

But in a very incredibly subtle way, it is. And

yeah, just sitting here talking about it, that's,

you know, you see that and you're like, wow.

It's very Transformers, very Transformers. Oh,

absolutely. So, so after that, Megatron says,

execute them all, raise the Decepticon collars.

You can kind of tell, I can definitely tell the

narration has changed off of Starscream to another

character because where we get Cybertron is mine

and the Decepticon flag, basically Megatron is

turning into Commissioner Gordon as a giant Decepticon

symbol. The Decepticon bat signal up in the sky.

Which is kind of funny because before, remember

when they were at the Decepticon pen? It was

dark. It was really dark and in the background,

you know, it's like dark times. It's like yeah

And that's how things have flipped Now the the

the signals bright and lit and vibrant because

they are in control So we get This narration

which everyone should be able to figure out who

is talking here times like this make a fella

feel alive And I think that's our cue amigos

Time for us to butt up and save the world. Ironhide,

the Dinobots and the Aerialbots return. I didn't

see that coming. I mean, I knew they eventually

would because we knew, I mean, we hoped that

they weren't dead. You get Megatron saying that

they were dead. You're like, wait a second until

I see bodies. I'm not going to, I'm not going

to believe that. And then you get these guys

on the last page and it's like, oh yeah, we are

proper. hit it out here, superion against Devastator,

Ironhide is back, the Dinobots, next issue is

going to be explosive. And the story for this

one was... It's a train, and you can't stop a

train. This is on full force. It's kind of like

Astro Train running over Force Wendel's leg.

That might be the best moment out of this entire

trade as far as comedy moments go So we get to

issue 15 cover a is RC and Megatron bumblebee

too far into this too We're on our way out when

he says execute them all in the background RC

pins Side swipe to the wall with her fire sword

the last time she's used that like on somebody

like that was like rap bat When she pinned somebody

they they died But I thought that was kind of

important to kind of point out because we find

out next issue a little bit something else was

going on there Yeah, and I don't think I don't

think side swipe is pulling a a Tito from Oliver

and Company of, this is torture. Chain me to

the wall. No. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we have RC

crossing her swords, jumping in the air, being

crazy psycho ninja that she is. And Bumblebee

and Megatron on either side of her. Yep. I like

that cover. I think it's a cool cover. I thought

it was really good too. I was pretty happy with

that. so somebody is trying because I for the

life of me I don't remember who this guy is off

that is it's not oh these are the aerial bots

right yeah on the first page yeah oh it's not

the aerial bots it's medbay oh that's right this

is you know he's like hey you know he's they

had people coming in and at this point like Because

of the riots people have been being brought in

because they've been injured and whatnot So they've

it's it's basically crowded you get you got some

people in CR chambers I'm guessing that they

had already been there for various reasons Again

like we like I had said before that resources

are really low This is also the reason why bumblebee

up until I mean through the whole arc. He still

has his cane and everything So and that might

again That probably explains why they only had

one city built at this point. Anyhow, Jazz comes

in with a very hurt Mirage, who we haven't seen

in... Oh jeez, I think since his spotlight. Mirage.

It was really cool to see him. He looks like

somebody ripped him in half. Oh no, we haven't

seen him since Allham Megatron, when Ironhide

punched him. Ironhide's always punching everybody.

Yeah. Uh, and that's at which point the, the

ceiling gets ripped off and Devastator is there

to devastate. Yep. There's a plan for everything.

Yeah. And now we're getting monologue from Prowl.

Yep. Um, and you see skybite. Yes. Thankfully,

he's not speaking in verse. No, no, it's Jazz

taking the lead because he's got his guns. He

has left his electro bass back at the McAdams.

I'm sure he's kind of stashed it someplace where

it won't get destroyed. Yeah. Yep. He's there

to hold the line, just like everybody else is

there to try to hold the line too, because hey.

people are injured there already and they're

just trying to evacuate everybody that they can

and then what do you know devastate devastator

comes there to kill them all i i mean this is

just this is heartbreaking for the autobots now

because it's like the beginning of this volume

the autobots had the upper hand yeah of course

bumblebee went soft I didn't expect bumblebee

to kill him right there, but like He goes soft

and he you know because he goes soft because

he wants to be able to not have the the other

Decepticons uprise and and and and do the riots

and they happened anyway You know what? It's

so interesting because it's like bumblebee. I

mean he's still at the core of him bumblebee

Could I ever see him offing Megatron like that?

I mean, he's still bumblebee. I mean, if he had

been that guy that could just like take the last

weapon to shoot him right in between the eyes

and kill him and kill it over, none of this would

have happened. But at the same time, he was also

kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place

because he's trying not to be the army version,

the militia that all of the nails are seeing

them as. The nails when everybody came back the

first thing that they did was kick Optimus Prime

off the planet And of course he volunteered to

do that so they would give the Autobots a chance

Everybody just they want these two factions off

off the planet and To make an opportunity for

that to not happen and you know give everybody

a chance You know Optimus Prime sacrificed himself

for that reason but up until now, I mean, the

temperature of Autobots, you know, how they,

what they think about the Autobots, what they

think about the Decepticons have been continually

in question. And so as a leader, I think, you

know, he's, he's balancing so many things. He's

trying as best he can to do it the right way.

But, you know, he's trying to be that guy that

also wants the nails to see them not as bad guys

either, or to be like a bunch of tyrants that

are trying to control everything. I mean, they're

trying to say, look, you know, don't trust the

Decepticons. But in a sense, you know, Starscream

playing the way that he is, is playing right,

you know, and the nails are playing right into

his hands. And so it's like, He's kind of stuck

between a rock and a hard place. I mean, he's

got to be that guy, but he's also trying to be

the guy that wants more of the public eye to

look at them in a better light. So it's, I'm

sure that it was just very difficult. I would

have been like, no, no, just take him out. We'll

deal with the fallout afterwards. Even if metal

Hawk takes control, they've done 10 times better

than what happens. So we get to the med center

has fallen Megatron's like well that didn't take

long secure the city turmoil and use your discretion

in regards to surrendering Autobots Kill them

all That's all turmoil wants to do is just that

No, don't worry about that. We take no prisoners.

They're all dead and Bumblebee Which I wish they

would have kind of kept up with this for a little

while But it pretty much changes back to normal

after this panel here. He says You're not gonna

get away with this and then the next panel his

face looks fine Yeah Half -and -half he still

looks a little crunched but There is fallout

to this injury. He does eventually succumb right

after this volume after they're out in the wilderness,

he eventually does. I kind of want to say it

was a delayed effect. Yeah. But yeah, poor Bumblebee's

face is all crunched. He's going to have to get

a new face after this. I'm not just a Bumblebee,

I'm a gold bug. Yeah, gold bug Bumblebee. Try

to say that really fast, gold bug Bumblebee.

Goldbug Bumblebee, Goldbug Bumblebee. Say it

10 times a row. Send us your voice audio recordings

of it. Bumblebee goes on to say, Optimus Prime

will come back. He'll destroy you even if we

all fall. I love this. Get away with this indeed,

little Bumblebee. Did I crush your cliche inhibitor

along with your face? He's calling himself Orion

Pax again, hasn't he? Even now, Shockwave is

in communication with his teacher, Jaxus, who

goads Orion into doing our bidding. Yep. So it

makes me wonder, does Megatron know of all of

Shockwave's plan? Or just enough to be, hey,

go do something with Orion Pax. Keep him distracted

so we can take Iacon here. I'm not sure because

it doesn't look like I mean cuz he doesn't know

everything cuz if he did I'm sure he would have

been like No, right shockwave. You can't do that.

So I'm sure that he knows just enough Right,

but like when he says he's he's I'm wondering

if this is a misprint because He says is that

not correct shockwave, but the one on the panel

next to it is sound wave No, no, he's he's like

it's that not correct shockwave And then they're

like, er, they're answering on behalf of shockwave

because at this point he's stepped out. Right,

right. That's what I'm saying. Sound wave responding,

even though shockwave, I mean, cause these guys

in the past, they've kind of been standing the

background next to each other. I mean, that was

even established way back when they were in the,

in the bullpen, basically are in the Decepticon

pen where these guys just, you know, wrap back

was. Ratbat was being the voice of the Decepticons,

trying to be the Senator dude that he was in

the past. And then you have Shockwave and Soundwave

just standing in the back going, we're just going

to sit back and see how this plays out. Those

two have always kind of stood there. So to have

Soundwave be the guy, likely he's, you know,

jumped off, gone to us as a 10 -mile soldier,

my Lord. It's something we will get to next time

in the next volume. She's not gonna go down and

help turmoil and his soldiers. Come on, you guys

gotta... It's Shockwave. Come on, guys. Soundwave.

Wake up. Wake up. What I was gonna say was that

it's funny that you mentioned that the two of

them are just standing... idly by while Ratbat

is going off doing his own thing, which is funny

because what's going to eventually happen between

the two of them, Soundwave and Shockwave, in

the next arc. Because the next arc, I think three

issues of it, is the origin of Soundwave. And

I believe that that sets up his rivalry with

Shockwave. Believe it does if I'm remembering

I could be wrong. I'll have to wait till next

time I could be wrong on that though No, you're

right at the end of the next arc at the end of

the next volume because we've got let's see 16

This is the end of 17 17 18 19 20 21 20 20 and

21 I believe or was it 21 and 22 It was I thought

it was 20 to 22 three issues. Yeah, that's where

you actually find out like sound waves background

But all of the next volume basically sets up

Dark Cybertron. Yeah, pretty much. Like the first

half of it, 17 to 19, is Shockwave's story. Basically

Shockwave's what he's been building. Pulling

together threads of what was laid in Infiltration,

Infestation, and Devastation. Right? Infiltration.

Not Infestation. infiltration escalation and

devastation um with the oars and yeah and what

he's got jahaxus and and company doing as well

so yeah yeah it's it's gonna be crazy next time

because there's so much yeah so let's go back

to turmoil who's taking out uh all the autobots

people Not just the Autobots, but I'm guessing

like, um, nails to left and right. He's already

taken out what, uh, the Zedka and hippo tank

or was it hippo tank and then Zedka maybe survived.

I don't know. Yeah. Bad things were happening.

Turmoil is just shooting left and right. Take

no prisoners. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much. He's,

uh, I find it funny that he's talking about them

cowering like Andurian rocks. And that's what.

Issue 17 of Robots in Disguise shows us what

Andorian rocks, or are, are Dory and rocks are.

Yeah. Funny, funny. It's like somebody knew the

continuity. Uh huh. Oh, Captain Sean. Good old

captain. Yeah. Awesome. So in this whole battle

scene, we've got turmoil and we ended up where,

uh, Jazz, Jazz and Ironhide show up. Well, Jazz

is at point blank in front of Turmoil's face

because he's defending some people. And Turmoil's

like, eh, I'm not going to overheat my cannon

over you. Needlenose, take care of this peon.

And he's about to shoot Jazz in the face and

we see a pair of Jaws coming out of the, out

of the smoke behind Needlenose. And we get a

very, very pissed off dinosaur slag coming at

him. Brilliant. I loved it. The first time reading

this, I didn't notice the teeth, but coming back

and reading it again, I went, Oh my gosh, the

teeth were right there. Why did they not see

those? I mean, it's so incredibly subtle, but

at the same time, it was like so obvious. So

you flip the next page and Dinobots in your face,

man. It's awesome. So we get the Dinobots engaging,

um, the ground forces of the Decepticons and

they stand. You know, they're starting to take

these guys on. Poor Needlenose gets bit. Turmoil

does get away, though, because he's taken care

of by somebody else later. But yeah, they're

like, hey, it's fine. We get the Autobots finally

see the ones that have been lost have now returned

to like, oh, good, you're not dead after all.

because honestly that whole wilderness story

stuff that I don't know I don't want to say anything

negative about John's writing but I just after

a while the whole wilderness story just kind

of got to me I was like okay can we actually

get these guys back to the to the city already

um I think what I think what it was it was just

that we didn't know what was going on we don't

yeah know the end game this is pulling all of

those threads together we finally get them back

we finally get to see why they were out there

to begin with. And that everything's not as lost

as we thought it was because, you know, the last

time we saw these guys, the Dinobots were trying

to take out Ironhide and Ironhide was just trying

to survive and he was having a hard time concentrating

too. So, and then of course, Superion kind of

came in there and then we were just didn't happen

because Superion wasn't even like working either.

Yep, he seemed to be kind of crazy But they got

over it. They're still alive. My guess is that

when Megatron stopped using the signal They weren't

nearly as dead as they thought that they were

and they kind of pulled themselves together So

at that point we've got Superion come come in

and he takes takes on Devastator Yeah, that is

just amazing I mean that Superion versus Devastator,

that's great. Yeah. I don't think we've ever

seen that in IDW, these two combiners taking

on each other. No, I don't think so. It's so

cool though. So Superion and Devastator are going

at it. Ironhide is trying to be a hero. The dino

bots are getting in on the action tripping up

turmoil Which they should yes But then termiles,

you know taking sludge by the tail and swinging

them around and throwing them There's a lot of

really really good action basically and it's

really crazy. And meanwhile the whole time we've

got prowl kind of interjecting things in there

talking about Yeah. When I arrived on earth,

I saw something more. It wasn't gray. This world,

it was colors. And then Spike Witwicky reminded

me of all the terrible potential contained within

all living creatures. Others were just tools

to him, devices to accomplish a goal. And I looked

at what I had done and the gray I had allowed

into my own life. Yeah. Poor Prowl. Poor Prowl.

And then we get RC in her... Double cross. Yeah,

pretty much. She was a spy. Not only is she a

ninja and crazy, but she's also a spy. She's

playing her own game as well. And that was the

only way for her to get close enough to be able

to try and make a difference. She is so smart.

and it turns out that um side swipe was in on

it too because when he and he figured it out

about the time hang on one second amy so this

is also where we find where side swipe pretty

much figures out that too as well because when

she impales him she kind of didn't impale him

in a way that would damage him and he played

along so he kind of knows that but then she also

goes on to say uh you know you know stuff about

i'm being crazy and you know people don't trust

me and blah blah blah basically that she goes

back to um all the days where she was like trapped

with your hacks is killing him over and over

and over and trying to decide where her loyalty

lie it's just like i thought about um i thought

about what you were what you did and i realized

that deep down all the way to my spark I really,

really hate Decepticons. And then she takes out,

I'm guessing, she takes out Bombshell, which

takes out, because Bombshell happens to be still

a controlling Prowl Estater, specifically Prowl.

And when she impales him in the face, that was

kind of the reason why this is the closest she's

been able to get. to find out who's been controlling

Prowl as she wanted to take that person out.

So this is the closest she is. She takes him

out, she gets him right in the face, stops Prowl's

Satyr right in his tracks. So, yay! It wasn't

Superioron, it was RC against Devastator. She

took him out. And that quite literally just shuts

down Devastator. He's out for the count. Yep,

and then the Autobots start pushing back at the

Decepticons and it's kind of cool. It's like,

hey, you ready? And he's like, yeah, it was getting

a little uncomfortable hanging around like this.

That's when I Have to say it's just so much fun.

Yeah, bring out the guns. It's finally happy

again Yeah, side swipe is firing on all cylinders

Nothing in the universe. I'd rather be shooting

at Somebody like take out the sword so he doesn't

have to get like, you know a target on the wall

And then of course Megatron basically fires but

like oh my god the fusion cannon color Oh so

good So good because you got all the explosions

it looks like there's fireworks behind him it'd

be even though it's a giant explosion that that

page that The I shall prevail panel is they're

shooting you like behind him because there's

like energon running through the the couplings

or whatever and that's when he had the big Explosion

and he's like I shall prevail cuz it's Megatron.

Of course, he'd say that And superior knocks

Knocks Devastator on his block because like he's

not fighting back now because he's shut down.

Yeah, he's dead a stater He's dead in the water.

Yeah, and everything looks great. Like, you know,

hey the Autobots are finally getting you know

back on their feet Finally winning and then oh

Devastator comes back to life. Yes. Yes, that's

not good Yeah Because Prowl it's hard to to keep

him down anyhow So he says when I feel doubt

creeping in when I feel deep doubt creeping in

and it's good because it's like They kind of

they show in the conflict. They showing stuff

that's going on the Autobots the Decepticons

In different panels, but like throughout they're

just like they're showing that he's trying to

kind of come back Without like attempting to

really come back and I kind of liked that It

Prowl basically is trying to gain control again,

but he's like, you know Anyhow, he says when

I feel doubt creeping in a couple panels and

then he says I think about spike with spike wit

wiki and then the lights come on and you're like,

oh no, I Tried to tell myself I couldn't be that's

be what spike was that I can't do what he did

that creature isn't me anymore But bombshell

took the choice away. Now, now I am the device.

Yep. But bombshell doesn't control me. Prowl

doesn't control me. I am not Prowl. And it's

Dev, Devastator basically waking up, getting

up, superior on not seeing that he's right behind

him. And I am Devastator and nothing will control

me. So he's The Devastator basically is taking

control and he comes up behind Superion and rips

him in two! Yep, pretty much. Oh my gosh. That's

the end of that issue too and it's just like,

oh! We're not done yet. He's back online. Yeah,

that's like... The more I keep hitting him, the

more he keeps getting up. Yeah. Meanwhile, the,

uh, some of the dialects going through here is

basically that, uh, uh, metalhawk is insisting

that they go and save Starscream, which is kind

of important for the next issue. And Bumblebee's

all right. That's, I guess we'll do that. Then

he kind of comes along with him and says, we'll

do that. And that's, that's, that's what. Sets

up the next issue and the things that are happening

there. So Yeah, which leads us to issue 16 issue

16 the finale for this arc. Yep Boy, is it a

good one? Yeah, the cover a is Devastator with

all of the other Autobots and Starscream basically

fighting him. Yeah Really, really cool. Andrew

did an amazing job on this. This is a very beautiful

cover. Everybody take on Peralta Stater. I can

always tell when Bumblebee or Ironhide are doing

the narration because they usually do like a

yellow outline or a red. It sometimes is a little

hard for me to decide like earlier in this episode

of the podcast when I wasn't sure if it had switched

from Wheeljack to Starscream or somebody else.

The colors, sometimes they gotta work on the

colors a little bit for some of these inner monologues.

But Bumblebee and Prowl, it's easy. Yeah, they

are pretty easy to do that. Which is funny because

I think at the beginning of this, I thought it

was Prowl, not Prowl, but Bumblebee started it.

It starts with him saying, this is the story

of the end of the world. Right, but what I'm

saying is earlier in today's episode. There was

a point where Wheeljack was narrating for two

issues, and then it switched to Starscream, but

the colors, they looked similar to... Yeah, they

didn't put the colors, and I don't think they

even put any colors on those ones. No, not much.

So Bumblebee starts, and that is a gun in his

hand. I thought it was his cane. I was actually

hoping it was his cane, but that is a gun in

his hand. There's the shock stick in the other

one. He's sticking it to the next person with

that. No, this is the cane it turned into a it

just transformed into a gun I'm guessing I really

don't know that for sure So we get this crazy

opening battle scene But a lot of yellow and

a lot of purple here Hey, look, it's the g2 Constructicon

colors The I should say the the yellow g1 Constructicon

colors because there was a few times where the

the g1 Devastator toy was yellow But yeah, we've

got a lot of purple and yellow. We've got both

being metalhawk arguing back and forth and and

It's about is that bumblebee wants to kill Megatron

and right now he's I would say that if that opportunity

presented itself. Bumblebee would not hesitate,

especially since like the first chance, the first

chance he gave him, he didn't kill him. And then,

you know, when the tables were turned, Megatron

absolutely wanted him dead. Did not hesitate.

I don't think, I don't think Bumblebee is hesitating

now, but the whole point is that Metalhawk is

getting kind of trying to point out is basically

that he wants revenge. on a Decepticon, whereas

Metalhawk wants to save a friend, a Cybertronian

specifically. It's still, I guess the point that

they're trying to drive home here is the fact

that he's still seeing them as Decepticons, Autobots,

Nails, that he's keeping them separated instead

of saying like, we're all one, we're all Cybertronians

basically. And it's understandable because that's

been the regime for so long. Autobots versus

Decepticons, Decepticons versus Autobots. So

of course it would be ingrained into him. And

it's very hard to un -ingrain that. Very true.

I love this big splash page because it almost

reminds me of... Little bit it's not exactly

the the the Where the bots are on this giant

page where you know where turmoil asks Megatron

if Devastator has gone mad It almost reminds

me of the Transformers the movie poster The 86

movie poster because you've got the giant in

the background or you've got all the other bots

around him And suddenly now he's got lasers his

shoulders I thought oh yeah that's yeah you're

right I remember that being there before I don't

think he needed them out when it was punching

you know superior on so now like proper things

are going down it's just crazy it's I mean, it's

all out war and it's really interesting that

John is able to work the dialogue into these

battle scenes because I mean, I could just make,

not necessarily say make my own dialogue, but

I could just assume what's happening here as

far as who's beating up who. But it's awesome.

It really, really is. Let's see. I like the fact

that Megatron says to Starscream that Starscream's

friends can be counted on to take care of the

situation with Devastator, right? And he's like,

you know, they're not my friends. One of them

definitely is. Yes. But yeah, basically says

okay. Well, that's unforeseen that this Devastator

got taken out. But then the fact that he's back

up He's like, uh, he's crazy and he's on our

side who cares the Autobots will find a way to

take him out eventually So let's use it to our

advantage We get to more battle scenes we get

to RC Shooting Skywarp, I believe. Yep. That

was kind of brilliant she able to to get him

mid -vop oh dang oh yeah i see the upper left

hand corner the um where he teleported from he

teleported from her right side to her left and

she nailed him she nailed him yeah quite literally

um well then we we then see her versus uh rumble

I know I know it's I'm gonna say rumble because

it says rumble, but yeah But iron hide actually

takes him out and that's when he says he's got

a you guys handling things here III the scene

between him and RC is cute because he's like,

you know Yeah He introduces the Dinobots tour

and then he's like I gotta go Can you handle

the rest of the cons?" And she's like, with five

Dinobots, I can retake the planet. He says, we

only have four. Then I'll see what I can do.

Where are you going? It's like, where else? He's

going, he gets pitched up into the air to go

and try and knock some sense into Prowl. Cause

that's what, you know, Ironhide does. He punches

things. Quite literally. Not only does he punch

insecticons, traitors. You know, Dinobots. Just

gonna make Prowl make the right choice. We know

that Transformers and Ska-, the brand of Transformers

and the term scale never really, you know, mesh

well together in a lot of things. And just seeing

a small -ass Ironhide basically bop Devastator

right in the nose. The juxtaposition of how large

Devastator's head is compared to how small Ironhide's

body is is just amazing. And then we get, and

this is finally Bumblebee comes to a realization.

If only they'd listened, if only people had trusted

me, if only I had been a better leader. It only

took you 15 issues to realize this. Bumble baggage.

Yep, pretty much. Ironhide, you're alive? I do

love the next panel after - Well that's right,

because he doesn't even know that he's alive

still. Again, he's the last to know everything.

No one sends him memos, he doesn't ever read

his email. Yeah, you gotta be connected there,

Bumblebee. He's like, Bumblebee, or Ironhide,

you're alive! Of course I'm alive. Why did you

ever doubt? Ironhide. This is the dude that freed

Cybertron from all of the Insecticon horde. You

should know better. Yeah. Uh, so. And then it

just gets crazy. I mean, it's, it's, it's like

all out. Shoot one direction, shoot another direction.

Metalhawk. running in front of everybody to try

and go save Starscream and doing it meanwhile,

they're all you know He taking his arm slicers

and knifing people Losing an arm, but then using

that arm to take out a guy the whole um the whole

shooting scenes here with the Autobots and the

Decepticons reminds me of um the return of Optimus

Prime when Skylinx is recapping for Optimus what

happened and talking about the the hate plague

and the spores and he's like it was Autobot against

Autobot and Decepticon against Decepticon that's

what this whole battle scene reminds me of awesome

awesome so like i said he he saved Starscream

He loses an arm while doing it and then turmoil

basically corners both Starscream and and metalhawk

and then Starscream who's been waiting for the

perfect opportunity and Turmoil basically calls

him an opportunist. This is a pacifist, which

is metalhawk and an opportunist Yeah And that's

when, you know, Starscream says, opportunists.

I like that turmoil. You're not the first person

to call me that, but I like it. Thing with opportunists.

Don't show them the opportunities. And he picks

up, uh, Metalhawk's fallen arm with the, you

know, the knife wrist thing and cuts off his

turret gun and then. slices right down the middle

of his head with it. He takes out turmoil. What?

Yeah, turmoil, yeah, he's done. And then as he

falls over, he says, call me coward again. I

know, I love that line. Oh no, he kicks him over.

He kicks him. He kicks him like, um... How do

you feel mighty Megatron? Yeah astrotrain transform

and get us out of here I remember when I was

a kid my brothers thought that line was so funny,

especially because you had a little thunk in

there Yeah, they played it over and over and

over and over again. We just laughed ourselves

silly Good times. So we get back to Ironhide

trying to talk some sense into Prowl I love the

art in this book. These artists do such a good

job. It was just so gorgeous. And Josh Perez

really colored this to heaven and back. He just

really gushed over it. And I remember even at

the time, because I was kind of talking to him

off and on, he was just saying, I love this book

so much. I've put so much into it. it really

is it's a work of love every the colors just

seem to pop off the page and they just vibrate

with this sense of excitement that he's like

I'm working on this book and it's awesome I mean

it shows in his work it just just how much love

he lavished on this it's great yeah um all right

so let's see we get to let's see here we go back

to the needle nose arc Needlenose, who's, who's

all out, I'm Decepticon. And, uh, basically Swindle

wasn't as broken as we thought he was. And he's

saving everybody that he could pull out of the,

you know, he, he helps, he's helping, um, blur

who got him out of the way. And Needlenose catches

him and he's like, you know, are you, you know,

you're saving people you're you're collecting

dead autobots and he's like uh no i'm really

actually just saving this guy because and then

he realizes he was just you know joshing with

him and he's like oh yeah you were you're yeah

he's making fun of you and he's about to to to

shoot him to say goodbye and the nails step in

and it's zetka that says you ruined my life you

beat me and then one of the and and tapas is

and me You murdered our friends and so basically

he gets scared because there's a whole lot more

of those Nails than him and he drops his gun

and runs away. Yeah So much for for being a you

know a tyrant Yeah, Decepticons until you get

all of the nails coming at you and then you drop

your gun and run away. It's funny It swindles

completely like Wow, you saved me really I'm

swindled Yeah Would you like to buy a gun? Would

you like to buy a gun, yeah? I'm sorry, I cannot

see swindle in any other light than the arms

like the the dealer the guy that has everything

for every occasion I have to say I think in a

sense a little bit of that might be on the back

burner a little bit I think he's trying to try

out this this idea of just being a normal guy

Because he hasn't been that guy since like Robots

and disguises started and he's been on Cybertron

like before this he was working with dirge in

the waste disposal area There's and not once

has he said anything. Would you like to make

a deal? Would you like to buy a gun? We see him

even today in the wind blade series And he's

that guy that's hanging out in the bar And he

hasn't said that either. So I'm like, I think

he's really just, I think, you know, in terms

of you've got some Autobots that are really wearing

this whole idea that. Yes, we're Cybertronians

now. We're not Autobots and Decepticons. The

war is over. We're getting back to regular life

We've got the camera crew. We've got the the

bar scene people We've got the people that are

actually trying to get back to to just a daily

life And I think swindle is on the on the Decepticon

side that guy that's kind of trying it out seeing

what it's all about and stuff like that I don't

I hope he doesn't stay that way forever, but

it's kind of it's It's, it's a new thing for

him, but I think he's wearing it really well.

I think what they've been doing with him so far

seems to be working. Absolutely. I mean, John's,

John's doing a good job taking characters that

you think that, that they should not be that

person, but yet he's been wearing it fairly well.

I mean, he hasn't been making deals left and

right yet. And I, I mean, expect him to eventually

go back to that, but you know, I'm kind of glad

that they're. they're running with it like it

is right now. It seems to really be working for

Swindle. He's still that guy. He's so fun. He

still says the quirky things that are just very

him. And I have to say, I still love his design.

I still love the glasses. Yeah, I do really love

his design. So we get back to Ironhide and Prowl

Estator and Prowl, or Ironhide trying to convince

Prowl to come out. Uh, we get, uh, what I love

about this one is we get three different color

eyes. We get red, yellow, and blue. It's him

taking control again. Right. And he's like, you

know, now's the time to back down. He's like,

impossible. You know, why, why, why do you persist?

It's like, and then he gives him a moment where

he says, you know, where he talks about like

what he was, what he saw the future and that's

not what it was going to be. Went into the wilderness.

He started to doubt that things are so black

and white and basically say, it says, we don't

have to be what we are. We can change. And then

he goes, doubt, change, doubt. Ah, I doubt. And

that is able to connect to him. And he goes from

the red eyes to the other eyes, to the blue eyes.

Can't be this and even even the the word bubbles

the word bubbles are like purple with the yellow

Yeah, and as he says can't be this it turns white.

Yeah And he rips his own head off yeah off with

his head And underneath there's a little prowl,

yep pretty much I wonder if the head is still

like hanging around somewhere on, you know, in

Dark Cybertron they run past it or something.

That's Devastator's ex -head. The head that Prowl

ripped off. Yeah. They all fell apart. Great.

So Prowl and Ironhide have a touching moment.

Yeah, like it's like, I'm me, you're you. Bumblebee's

like, later Prowl, right now we got work to do.

Oh, God. Bumblebee has an ultra magnus line.

Showtime's over. We got work to do. I swear.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am not trying to say

this whole arc is Transformers the movie, but

there's so many things in this that remind me

of lines from the movie. And that's the thing

is they're not obviously trying to be. It's like...

It's running through it again and just talking

about it out loud and going, oh my gosh, that

sounds like so and so. I mean, when you say it

out loud like that and they're like, oh, you're

right. It's so totally that. And I didn't even

see it the last two times I've read through this.

And you're like, oh yeah, that's, that's, he's

doing that. I mean, you see it where it's like

cheesy and it's like really meant to be that

line, like till all are one, you know. But see,

I expect that now. I mean, even after I read

the first three volumes of More Than Meets the

Eye, I expected Rodimus to say that over and

over and over again. That's his thing now, but

I'm just saying any time where they've been cheesy,

Optimus Prime is getting to the end of the line

and he says the epic words. You know that type

of thing where it's it's it's in Absolutely meant

to homage g1 and be that line This is this is

them making the lines without actually intentionally

being but that's exactly I mean it's in a very

subtle way Being just a very transformers line

without absolutely So that's that's what I like

about it. I mean, I think that if anybody reads

that and sees that Mean it can be incredibly

cheesy when they do it like that, but this is

not trying to be that at all And I think it just

tells how well John is as a writer that he can

put something in there and be very subtle about

it and make it work and it doesn't Determine

wanting to read it Right. And I think it depends

on who the reader is, and depends on what your

Transformers knowledge is, because everybody's

going to infer from what they've seen before.

True. But I've seen in fans lately, at least

the hardcore fans it seems, that they don't want,

it's not that they don't want those homages,

they just don't want the cheesy ones. They want

the ones that make sense. pull out the cheese

just because the writers can. Like the last one

that I saw that I thought people were like, eh,

about at least that the people that I know in

certain circles, I think autocracy did it just

a little bit too much. Which isn't necessarily

bad because the new fans that maybe hadn't picked

up Transformers for a while, because I was reading

different reviews just to see, there were people

that actually genuinely loved that and I liked

reading their reviews because they were basically

admitting I haven't even looked at Transformers

in the last 10 -15 years, but to see that in

autocracy kind of homaged back to what I remember

G1 being and so they're having a G1 experience

and I can appreciate that from their point of

view. I didn't see it until they said, until

they shared that. And then I was like, I, I can

see why that would appeal to that. That, you

know, right. And I, and I think the other thing

with the Ossetians is that, um, or autocracy

monstrosity and primacy. Yeah. It's, it's Flint.

It's the, it's the guy that made the lights.

The original. Yeah. Alright, so Megatron comes

in, says, uh, very good Autobots. I assumed you

would stop an off -control Devastator, but I

hope you're proud of yourselves, regardless.

Megatron, you did this? Indeed. I have single

-handedly changed the course of history. Oh,

boy. And he's about to do it again. Wait, wait,

no. He is not about to - we're not gonna get

a mega Devastator hit, are we? No, we totally

are. That's exactly what he's about to do. Are

you serious? Oh, thank God for Durge and Scythe.

I think that's Scythe Swipe on the other... No,

no, no, it's - it's Megachan. Sorry, I saw a

red and I thought it was Scythe Swipe. dirge

tries to come at him and say no and he shoots

him oh poor dirge he never gets a break either

and this is when yeah this is the brilliant point

because it's like okay so prowl says b i have

an idea it'll probably kill us and most of the

city and then you know iron hide's talking but

anything's better than and then and then bumblebee

has a moment he's like shut shut shut I just

remember something important. I remember when

Wheeljack said, Bumblebee, remember where it's

most important? And it's calling back to one

of the previous issues where he said the three

most important words in the Cybertronian language.

And he says, dang it, system bypass code word,

Wheeljack. And then Prowl's like, Wheeljack?

And then everybody's like, Wheeljack? He says

it three times and it causes. the force shield

that they had put in the original like when he

when they showed up at the very beginning of

the of this of this volume basically and issue

number 13 i believe where um no it was issue

12 when they when he came back in there wheeljack

took a hold of him put this force shield thing

i guess he built it into his system they didn't

take it out the force shield comes up and it

keeps him from from combining with devastator

All I can think of is Michael Keaton needed to

show up at this moment because they use a name

three times. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.

So Wheeljack bests Megatron. Well, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It was, it was Wheeljack because it was

Wheeljack that put it in there and it was just

bumblebee. It was like, Oh, yeah. So we get,

um, Poor Wheeljack. Poor Wheeljack. He's a hero

and he's out for the count. Yeah, he's gone.

So we get Megatron back in the Force Shield.

Metalhawk comes up. These guys are not together.

They're not with the rest of the group. They

just took out Turmoil. They just took out Megatron.

They're a little ways away from everybody. May

it wheeljack is like or not wheeljack metalhawk

is what what happened and Starscreams like yeah,

haha wheels Jack happened He never got credit.

He never got enough credit must have integrated

one of his forcefield belts into Megatron spark

casing Yeah It's all over except for the announcement

or the deep denouement. Yes, it's over It's over

it's over for metalhawk is what it is Good Starscream

shoots him with that big FG. Yeah, he's trying

to tell him about Responsibility, you know trying

to give him the pep talk that says hey chosen

one you you're responsible now blah blah blah

blah And he sees back to this idea of opportunist

Yeah, well, I'm not gonna let a fellow cyber

trying to die for no reason now for the sake

of expedience on the other hand and he picks

up the gun and he shoots metalhawk and you're

like What the hell? Yep. Crazy stuff. What the

hell? It might all have to do the same thing.

I thought you were my friend. I was. I just want

this more. He's gonna use his death to pull power.

Of course. It's Starscream. He may be a coward,

but he's a very cunning coward. This Metalhawk

is your man! After everything that you've done

up until this point, he's been the dude that's

still kind of standing next to you saying you

could be this person that could be this great

leader. And he can't let go of the sleaze! He

just can't let go of it! And he kills his only

friend! It's just like, ugh. And you're right,

he does use it, because later, after we get the

whole wounded scene and we get a semi -touching

moment between RC and Durge? I know. That's a

little weird. Yep. That's a little strange, and

then we get, um... Bumblebee still can't remember

Tappet's name, unfortunately. Yeah, you can't

remember my name! A leader that can't remember

the name of the people that he leads. Geez. And

then we get Starscream at his speech. Another

speech, yeah. Another speech. And this is where

he uses Metalhawk's death to basically win him

the election. Yeah, he's like, you know something

bigger, you know, he talks about how he you know,

tell them something bigger responsibility blah

blah blah and He's split open of Cybertron look

at the symbols all about a decepticon look at

them and cast them out No more coups. No more

implanting of chips. No more secret sassens.

No more cover -ups No more factions and he rips

his own faction sign off and says are you with

me? And people supported him. Yeah. You know,

here's the thing about this. I don't approve

of him ripping his own cockpit off. I wish he

would have just had something on his thumb and

just did like some sort of blank rub sign move

where it just rubbed the symbol out. Because

it just, it looks weird seeing the inside of

his chest. It looks weird. I have to say I did

kind of like it. I liked it. I mean, I liked

it. I thought it was a cool move because you

don't expect it from Starscream because, and

this is something that for new readers, first

of all, anybody that's a new reader to this series,

go back to the beginning, go back to Death of

Optimus Prime and make your choice or choose

both. But for new readers, this is going to be

something completely different for them because

No one has ever seen a Starscream like this.

Yes, there are the standard trademarks of him

being a coward, him being a schemer, but like

him being a politician, that's something completely...

But he plays it so well. Oh, absolutely. So we

pretty much end on Bumblebee. you know giving

us all this monologue he says the people spoke

and their story ended and the Autobots and the

Decepticons were cast out into the wilderness

and you see them going their separate ways the

Autobots go their way the Decepticons go their

way everybody got cast out unless they decided

to not choose a side and just be who they were

and while he's not while it's monologuing you've

got basically Starscream Digging through the

rubble to find his ground It's like and they

chose Starscream the city and the planet are

his I hated every moment I tried to rule Cybertron,

but I did it anyway because I knew if not me

Him yeah, this was the story of the end of the

world the story of hubris Trust and doing the

right thing. It was the story of power of who

leads and who is led who deserves it and who

desires it Heavy is the head Heavy is the head

that wears the crown. Yep The end splash page

is Starscream wearing his crown doing his Best

Superman impression. Yeah, all I can think of

is Coronation Starscream. This is bad comedy.

This is bad comedy Just like oh man, everybody's

kicked out and Starscream rules. I'm just like

You get to the end of this and of course after

you know 16 issues This was the end game and

you just kind of look at it. You're like, oh

my gosh, he totally pulled it off Finally got

it. He finally won And you're just like, this

is crazy. And then when we get to next time around,

when we talk about volume five, even though,

even though I don't know how they, I don't know

how and why they picked, maybe it was to throw

off suspicion. I don't know how and why they

picked the cover they picked for the volume five

trade, which is basically Starscream and his

crown just standing there in that super rampose.

Um, but volume five, at least I've started reading

it for our record later at some point for this

coming up week and the first Chapter 17 nothing

to do with it all shifts to to shockwave I am

absolutely this arc was great as much as I said

originally that I was skeptical about this book

because of it being political I want Cybertron

politics in real life, really, seriously. That

would be awesome. Yeah, you're right, the next

volume we get basically two issues of shockwave.

We get three of shockwave and three of soundwave.

And then it's dark Cybertron. 17 and 19 is shockwave,

and then 20 to 22 is soundwave, and 23 on is

dark Cybertron. 20? Is 20 that as well? I was

like, no, 20 is not. I'm looking at it right

now and it's not. Oh, is it start? Okay. It's

just those two issues. One goes to the, it goes

pretty quick. One goes to the planet that's kind

of weird, weird, crazy planet. And then the next

one goes back to Gorlam Prime. Okay, so yeah,

I the only reason why I said it was three and

three is because I remember them doing oh I know

what it was it was three because I remember them

doing one of those combined covers where it's

Same background, but it's Starscream shockwave

and sound wave as a whole Collage that's why

I thought it was okay So just to kind of wrap

this up We have all the alternate covers in the

trade, Megatron, Prowl, Starscream, Bumblebee.

Yeah, all the ones basically that were available

for the RI covers, all of the covers, all of

them were included at the very end if they had

two in between and then they had... Yeah, absolutely.

Um, overall, I love this. I thought this was

great. This was a year's worth of building up

to it was fantastic. Uh, it was one of those

ones that I highly recommend. This is why I say

you have to read robots in disguise because if

you read it from the very beginning, this was

all the payoff that everybody that had been waiting

for the lab for the last year. Finally got and

it wasn't just one issue payoff. It was six Where

was I mean five I take the back side. So yeah

five really great well paced explosive Issues

that just it was you know, just when you thought

oh, we're gonna finally get this then it was

like no, no, no, we're gonna get this nice well

built meal of a Several issues and for a while

there was just like boom boom boom So much really

great stuff was going on. It was just, it was

the thing to read. I mean, I know sometimes we're

like, you know, running on about more than meets

the eye, but it was like this arc, this five

issue arc was, was really well done. And it,

like I said, it came after a whole year's worth

of setup. It was perfect timing. Yeah, absolutely.

Like I remember when I first read this, um, before

rereading it for the record. And I remember when

I first read it and I was like, Holy crap, what

is going on with brow? Holy crap the black room.

That means those decepticons aren't dead and

and then just seeing the whole reveal of it and

just It's it reminds me of a g1 episode where

they're hiding in a in a trench And and the Autobots

actually drive by the trench and one of the I

don't think it was might have been Starscream

says Why do we have to hide? Why can't we because

it's not time Starscream, you know Megatron just

replies to us not time Starscream Overall, I

gotta give this this trade a five -star five

-star I think that is absolutely fair to say

is it's worth it because I mean, yeah, I could

nitpick on RC. I'm Her face design changes constantly.

Yeah, it depends on the angles. I think but I

could nitpick that, but I'm not going to take

a point off just because of that. The art overall,

I mean, Andrew and the rest of the team did amazing.

It's very consistent. I mean, Andrew, he has

an organic feel to his stuff. It's not as like

technically, it's not technically precise, like,

you know, Alex Mills is, but there's a very,

there's a very character. Driven field to it

that just I it's so unique, but yet it's so consistent

Absolutely. Yeah, he just has this really unique

style and it's it's I like it I've liked it for

a while. I like pretty much everything that he

does. It's it's not Alex Milm It's just it's

Andrew Griffith. He's got his own style and I

really like the fact that The IDW is pretty content

with letting those styles kind of Come through

yeah with each of the each of the writers and

each of each of the artists so I'm trying to

say We've been talking for three hours My brain

is starting to shut down now But yeah, it Andrew

has a really interesting. It's just a very unique

style that I really really like it each one of

the artists do but Just for him to be able to

pump out this much work month after month after

month Keep up with it and just do I mean five

issues straight of just nothing but Andrew and

it this was a very very intense Volume to do

I think he did an extraordinarily well job. So

Andrew did a well very well Very well done job

on the art and the drawing everybody that was

on colors and inks it just most of it was actually

done by Perez and I think I think the volume

actually does credit Brian Shearer. Look at it

real quick and make sure. Yeah, it does. So I

know Brian helped out a little bit in the inking

even. I know that Andrew's done a lot of his

inking, but it credited both Andrew and Brian.

Right, right. But yeah, pretty solid volume.

You're going to get very consistent art in this

one because it was all pretty much just a very,

the core group of robots in disguise. Absolutely.

All right. Where can the people interact with

you online if they would like to do so? Well,

the best way to find me is on Twitter because

I tweet a lot. You can also find me on the under

base because if I'm not on the review, I am editing

in the background. So don't hear my voice. I

actually have I'm the one that's doing all the

editing in the behind the scenes. And that, you

know, yeah, that's that's where you can find

me. absolutely next time Amy and I are gonna

do volume 5 of robots in disguise it will be

a lot shorter episode because I actually have

I actually still have the single issues. So what

I'm going to do is I'm going to read it on Comixology,

and when we go through it, I will have the issues

in hand. It's kind of the same thing that happened

with The More Than Meets the Eye, Volume 4 and

5. Volume 4, I did exactly what we did now. And

then Volume 5, Nicole and I just went through

the issues as we're going along. So that's what's

coming up here in the pull bag. You guys got

any interviews over on the under base coming

up? Not any plans, but we We I've in the next

couple months. I'd like to get a couple people

on so I have a list of people that I'm trying

to That I'd like it's just summer and the convention

season is just kind of and then getting pregnant

too I have a lot of things that I'm juggling.

So yes, you do. Yeah. Well, we will have some

more interviews soon Awesome. Alright, well,

that's gonna do it for this episode of The Pull

Bag, back at you classics. We will catch you

next time! Bye -bye! You've just heard the latest

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