THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

The Revenge of the Fallen Movie Prequel: Alliance #3
Reviewed by Blackjack

This issue is slightly weaker than the others in that there's not much plot advancement. The burial had taken too much time. Was it necessary to wait for two additional weeks before dunking Megatron? What if, say, Barricade got to the bodies in that time? More new characters are introduced, with short introdumps. If Reign of Starscream was anything to go by, I'm betting that more than half of them would be massacred next issue. The main focus of this issue would be the 'alliance' between Lennox and Prime. Not too shabby, but could be better.




Not all of the protoforms on the first two pages appear in Alliance. Some would appear in ROTF (Demolishor and Sideways in China) or the Veiled Threat novel.

Bumblebee's vocal cords are damaged yet again by Starscream, so he must talk through the stereo.

Simmons hid behind a car for the duration of the battle. He also kept half of Frenzy's head, probably not for a keepsake. It's a safe bet that he's planning something. Simmons is very pissed off. Keller makes a cameo this issue as part of the Pentagon's officers.

Finally, after one and a half months after the battle at Mission City, the Decepticons' corpses are dunked into the ocean. The art is based on the scene from the movie, going so far as to include the 'whirlpools'. The Decepticons' bodies hit rock bottom, so they didn't use nuclear charges after all. Presumably Wreckage and the Landmines are dunked in as well.

Jazz, still in the G1-Prime trailer, is also given a funeral, establishing that for all intents and purposes, he is dead. Unless someone revives him.

This would be the start of the Autobot/human strike team, NEST.

The alternate modes of the Decepticons have been slightly modified to better match their landing sites. Overcast now transforms into a F15 Eagle used by Japan instead of his toy's MiG. Jetstorm's alternate mode had been tweaked as well. This is the first appearance of all the newly-arrived Decepticons bar Swindle (Prequel #1). Swindle has a Chevrolet logo, and he really hates Dead End. Fracture seemed to be in charge of the Decepticons. The two unnamed Deceps that arrive alongside Fracture in Italy are Reverb and Gunbarrel, repaints of Energon Stormcloud and Blight. They were supposed to have new toys about the time this issue appeared, but the toys were ultimately cancelled.

Dead End is actually Walmart-exclusive toy Jolt. The name change is due to the upcoming Autobot Jolt who would be in the movie, thus avoiding confusion. However, this does bring us a new continuity problem. There are two other Dead Ends in the ROTF toyline, one of which appeared in the prequel novel. Why they didn't use the name 'Road Hugger' (whom Movie Jolt was supposed to be a homage of) is beyond me. Also, his alt mode had changed from a buggati veyron into an alfa romeo.

Three Decepticons land in Europe (Fracture, Reverb and Gunbarrel in Italy), two in North America (Swindle and Dead End in San Francisco), one in Africa, two in Beijing, at least one in an unidentified forest place, and one in Australia. Additionally, Jetstorm landed in Middle East and Overcast in Japan. The Australia, Africa and the forest (turns out to be Peru) Protoforms show up in the Veiled Threat and were subsequently dealt with. The Beijing Protoforms are presumably Demolishor and Sideways, who appear in the Movie's Shanghai scene.

The admiral of the fleet is named Morshower, named after actor Glenn Morshower, who played Colonel Sharp in the 2007 movie.

Like Blackout, Fracture and her gang blow up the communications center before destroying the base. The Decepticons' dialogue are similar to the ones in Prequel #3, with 'no witnesses' being the priority.

I suppose I need to say something about Sector Seven. Why were they disbanded? Well, mostly because of their incompetence. Let's see what they did. Firstly, a long, long time ago, they managed to obtain the Allspark cube and Megatron, improving Earth's technology. That's good. However, Simmons botched up the operation to catch NBE 2 (See Prequel #4). Sector Seven proved ineffective in preventing Blackout and Frenzy from hacking their databases, and they are just jerks. Sector Seven let Megatron escape, and they proved ineffective against the Decepticons. And Keller is probably just grouchy that he nearly got killed by a little homicidal Frenzy.



The troops train in a cardboard town with pop-out cardboard Starscreams, which Bumblebee blasts. Come on. Couldn't Ratchet ridge up some fascimiles or animatorics or something?

There's the aforementioned Dead End fiasco.

Not so much as an error, but it's worth noticing that Dropkick, despite being featured in some 'group' covers, present in the video game and released early on in the toyline (same wave with Payload, Dreadwing and Arcee, all three whom appeared in the first Prequel issue) only had his first appearance now.



Simmons: -hiding- "These robots and their fighting. All their guns and explosions. Like a bunch of kids with their-"

Pentagon officer: "... It's your team now, captain. Your responsibility."
Lennox: "I understand, sir. How-" -conversation is cut- "What a jerk."

Swindle: "Of all the units to work with, I get you."
Dead End: "Well, I'm not too happy to be working with a malfunction like you, that's for sure."
Swindle: "Malfunction? Better than being a literal practice drone like you are."
Dead End: "Practice Drone?! If it weren't for the mission, you'd be dead, Swindle."