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Date Posted: 30/11/03 2:44:08 GMT+10
Author: Goktimus Prime
Subject: Armada #17 & War Within: Dark Ages #2 (spoilers)

Today I picked up issue #17 of Armada and Vol.2 #2 of The War Within, and here are my comments.

Transformers Armada #17 (Worlds Collide Part 4 of 4)

Don's art is getting better and better, and I thoroughly enjoyed the artwork in this issue. Elaine To and Rob Armstrong's inking is also very well done in this issue. Here's a breakdown of the story, with my commentary as we go along...

SCENE ONE: Silver Ridge, Nebraska
+ The Mini-Cons are preparing to use the Null-Reality Pod to find Optimus Prime. This is a similar gambit that Nightbeat made in the original G1 comics when he tried to find Ratchet who was lost between realities -- albeit there is more at risk here since the Null Reality Pod needs the power of MiniCon occupants (whereas Nightbeat used an unmanned drone).
+ OverRun gets distracted for a moment and apologises by saying, "sorry, I was miles away." What the f**k?! First of all, WHY would such a technologically advanced species of robots such as the Transformers use miles?! Kilometres would've made more sense, since that's based on universal principles of science. Not to mention that the authors of this book are supposedly Canadians... and Canada, like the rest of the world bar the U.S., is metric. Eediots!! I don't know who to slap first, Simon Furman for writing it in, or Roger Lee for not editting it. I'll slap Roger. SLAP!! Do your job!! (more nitpicking on Lee's poor editting later)

SCENE TWO: "Maraudimus Prime's" Cybertron
+ Optimus struggles to survive whilst Spinister embraces oblivion from Unicron.
+ The frame where Spinister is looking up at Unicron looks absolutely awesome!! The Japanese writing on his back says "Spiniste." No, that wasn't a typo, Don forgot to add the vowel-extension on the of the word, so it reads as "Spiniste" () instead of "Spinister" () -- see page 037 of Transformers Generations to see how the name Spinister is actually written in Japanese if your computer can't decode the Japanese text in this post (although most browsers like MSIE should prompt you to download the encoding patch). Most likely a mistake from Don, but I suppose since it's an alternate reality, perhaps Spinister's name in that reality is Spiniste... err..
+ It's interesting how Unicron detects the fact that Optimus Prime is not of this reality and momentarily spares him to speak with him through the ghostly image of Spinister.

SCENE THREE: Transformers Armada Cybertron
+ Jetfire and his assault squad press on deeper into Decepticon Command HQ. When they breach the Master Space Bridge Nexus, Jetfire is confronted with various portals leading to different realities. Amongst these realities we see:
- Beast Wars. There is an image of Tigatron and Rattrap in robot modes.
- Car Robot. We see Super Fire Convoy and Mach Alert.
- Beast Machines. There is an image of a Vehicon Tank Drone.
- Maraudimus Prime's reality - where Armada Prime is -- this only shows up for a moment before it switches to...
- Beast Wars(Neo). There is an image of Big Convoy.

SCENE FOUR: Silver Ridge, Nebraska
+ Scourge, Dirge and Thunderwing have violently interrogated Armada Thrust, but to no avail. Their plans to continue the assassination of Megatron is aborted when Thunderwing realises that the Nexus has been breached (a line from Beast Wars, heh).
+ Megatron, having defeated Galvatron, stands triumphant with the Dark Sabre. The Land Military Team attack him, buying the Air Attack Team enough time to separate from Megatron and disengage into the three separate members of the Air Defence Team (got it?). Meanwhile, the other MiniCons have located Optimus Prime (after scanning nearly 76 million realities) and the Null-Reality Pod, containing OverRun, Sparkplug and Comettor, is activated.
+ The inking in this scene is exceptionally cool. I think the whole issue is inked well, but I particularly liked the inking in this scene - esp the facial closeup on Thunderwing.

SCENE FIVE: Cybertron
+ Bludgeon is back - in tank mode! This is a treat as Pretenders seldomly come out of their shells, and when they do, it's even rarer that we see them in their alt modes. It's not often that we've ever seen Bludgeon not only out of his shell (which was destroyed last issue), but in tank mode too! Last time we saw this was in Generation 2, when he got his butt handed back to him by Megatron.
+ Rhinox and Overload try to hold Bludgeon back. I think it would've been cool if Rhinox's gun was drawn with stacks of used shells flying out - a la his Beast Wars chain guns. Yeah yeah, it's a different Rhinox etc etc., but it still would've been a nice tribute to the original Rhinox.
+ To make matters worse, Scourge, Thunderwing and Dirge are coming out of one of the space bridge portals. Jetfire orders all the Autobots to clear the area, but he remains behind to activate explosives. Just as he arms the explosives, one of the portals switches back to the Maraudimus Prime reality, where Optimus Prime is - and Jetfire leaps through as the explosion destroys all the Decepticons (we literally see Dirge disintegrate... again). The other Autobots are left wondering what happened to Jetfire.

SCENE SIX: Maraudimus Prime's Cybertron
+ Jetfire is on a Cybertron which is being devoured by Unicron. Optimus Prime extends a hand to him and the two are at the brink of despair when the Null-Reality Pod appears and Sparkplug powerlinks with Optimus Prime's arse, giving him all the power he has to give. OverRun then hands Prime a special MiniCon disk. He explains that it contains the power of all the MiniCons from his reality combined into a single matrix. This matrix transforms Optimus Prime and Jetfire -- in a visual style very similar to Megatron's transformation to Galvatron in Transformers the Movie - and they have been upgraded (and repainted!) as Powerlink Optimus Prime and Jetfire! The two of them combine to form Powerlink Jet Convoy and fire an almighty blast at Unicron, which manages to to stun the Chaos Bringer! The other MiniCons quickly Powerlink with Jet Convoy. Realising that it is too late to save this Cybertron, they open a portal and return to the Armada reality in the hope that it can still be saved.

SCENE SEVEN: Autobase, Cybertron
+ Optimus Prime contacts Ratchet who is still at Autobase Earth (although he still looks FUBAR). Optimus Prime commands Longarm to issue a general MiniCon call to arms as they prepare for the end of the future (oooh!).

Remember how I said I'd be bitching more about Roger Lee's editting? Well here it is. Here are some basic mistakes that should have been picked up by the editor (since that's the editor's job):
* Comettor is mispelt as "Commetor."
* In the first letter from the letters page, Heng Yip wrote, "Transformer generations magazine." First of all, it's not a magazine, it's a book. Secondly, it's called Transformers Generations. Thirdly, Generations needs to be spelt with a capital G, since it's a freakin' proper noun, rather than a common noun (since it's part of a title). I'm not sure if these errors came from Heng, but they did, Roger should've edited them. That's his job!
* In Roger's response, he actually BEGINS a sentence with the word "But"... which is followed by a comma. WTF?! Do these people speak English?!
* In the second letter, Lee Sands refers to Beast Wars II as "Beast Wars 2." This is utterly incorrect, as the title is written as Beast Wars II, and pronounced as "Beast Wars Second." Beast Wars 2 is pronounced as "Beast Wars Two," and is thus semantically WRONG. Hello? Editor?!

Transformers The War Within: Dark Ages #2

SCENE ONE: Inner Cybertron
+ The Fallen takes Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe to the Well of All Sparks. He commends the Decepticons for doing their tasks well. Bludgeon grows impatient and demands to know more about the Dark Power that the Fallen keeps on promising them. The Fallen gives him a taste and we see Bludgeon going through something akin to Dante's Inferno for a moment. The Fallen promises them more if they continue to serve him well. Bludgeon is both impressed and inspired.
+ The artwork in this scene is cool... and... why does the Well of All Sparks have a giant ceiling fan? :p

SCENE TWO: Tagan Heights

+ The Wreckers have pushed the UltraCons back to the Eastern Industrial Quadrant of the Tagan Heights.
+ The Wreckers get into a spot of bother when they bump into Devastator.
+ I like how Springer uses his springing ability! Looks cool!

SCENE THREE: Iacon, former Council Pavilions
+ The Protectobots learn of Devastator's allegiance with the Ultracons. We learn that the gestalts were created as a response to an escalating arms race. This contradicts G1 comic book canon (although it can fit into cartoon canon), but it's still an interesting idea.
+ The Protectobots decide to get involve before the situation escalates and other gestalt teams decide to take sides. For some bizarre reason, Streetwise is called... Streewise. Methinks it's Roger Lee's bad editing striking again!
+ The "Dark Ages" theme really hits home here. In the first War Within series, Cybertron is at the tail end of the Golden Age. Iacon is still in a sort of Babylonian-esque state of decadent glory. Here, we see that Iacon is dark and abandoned. Cybertron has entered its Dark Ages -- an image of Cybertron that we're far more familiar with from G1.

SCENE FOUR: Tagan Heights
+ Springer and Sandstorm try to stall Devastator whilst Springer orders the rest of the Wreckers to retreat. Sprigner becomes isolated and the other Wreckers disobey orders and join the fight. Sandstorm gives up and together they Wreck and Rule.
+ Springer is trapped and he is at the mercy of four Ultracons - Ratbat, Venom, Chopshop and Barrage. Ratbat's robot mode is... weird. Although this is by far not the first time that Ratbat has had a speaking role, nor the first time he's had a command role, since Ratbat was Decepticon commander for a while in G1.

SCENE FIVE: Inner Cybertron
+ Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe are putting some secret plan in motion. They talk about having lured a target, and about how they will use Grimlock to lure the third target. As is typical with Furman's storytelling, this stuff will only make sense towards the end. :p

SCENE SIX: Tagan Heights
+ The Wreckers are giving Devastator a run for his money, then the Protectobots come along and merge into Defensor. IMO, War Within Defensor looks rather plain... so do the Protectobots in general for that matter.
+ Ratbat is about to shred Springer, but a tremour from the battle above sets Springer free. The scene ends with both Springer and the Ultracons staring up at the two gestalts fighting.

SCENE SEVEN: Autobase, Cybertron
+ Once more, the idea that Cybertron is in the Dark Ages is reemphasised here. The exterior of Autobase is dark and in ruins. The inside of the central command is awashed with red emergency lighting...and is utterly abandoned (whereas in the previous issue it had proper lighting and was still manned by Autobots). Jetfire walks in to find that everything has fallen apart in his absence.

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