THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CLUB AND CONVENTION TRANSFORMERS COMICS

Crossing Over, Part 6
Reviewed by Blackjack

I’m sick of being pinned down here, Hot Rod.
A terrible, terrible mess, which isn’t helped by the fact that the Caretaker and Landquake speaking in big big words that take you a moment to decipher the meaning. Heck, I didn’t even remember what the hell rarified energon is or what happened to it, the dialogue is that terrible. Breakaway is still devoid of any personality other than walking-with-trust. Skyfall is still meh but okay compared to the other two. Cliffjumper and his little prank on Ramjet is a fun moment but not enough to save this issue. Grimlock, Cliffy and Ramjet aside, the Classics Autobots and Decepticons have less personality than the cartoon version which has got to be a new low. You just won’t give a damn about the battle between the Classics guys, and if you’re not interested in the candy cane dimension hoppers then there’s nothing here for you. Classics is a big, big flop, and the finale to the arc is reminiscent of the haphazard battle at the end of Revelations, only worse because this had big soporific introdumps. It’s a good thing we quickly bury Classics behind us.


Notes:
Universes within the multiverse are given ‘nodes’ by the Caretaker. 141.207.6.661 is the Cybertron cartoon, and 585.354.3.116 is mentioned. The candy cane squad will go to node 216.333.8.616. This system of cataloguing universes will later be eschewed in favour of Universal Streams, which we’ll see later.

The combined form of the candy cane dimension hopper squad is the guardian of rarified energon, keeping with the theme that each member of the Thirteen is assigned something (Vector Prime assigned space-time and Fallen assigned entropy).

Rarified energon is a special kind of energon that gives life to new Transformers as well as Primus. Or something. The supply in the room is transferred to another location.

‘Vorn’, a time unit first seen in the Marvel comics, is used here.

The space bridge is a literal bridge, though nothing like the Marvel comics’ Spanner Space Bridge

The enigmatic Hightower suggests that they build ‘a new Hook’ out of Grimlock. It is still uncertain what happened to Hook and Mixmaster, and where Hightower came from. Not that they seem to bother, anyway.

At the end of the story, Cliffjumper will find himself in the ‘Shattered Glass’ universe, which is Timelines #3, the candy cane combiner team will find themselves in the TransTech universe in the next issue, while the rest of the Classics Autobots and Decepticons will continue onwards in the ‘Games of Deception’ story taking place in Timelines #2 (although considering that Ramjet and Rodimus have both been repaired there it’s safe to say that it took quite some time).

Ramjet’s dislike to Starscream would be explored in ‘Games of Deception’, where it is revealed that many Decepticons still hate Screamer due to the Underbase Saga.


The red details on Starscream’s wings are always coloured light compared to the other red in Starscream’s body, making it look unpainted.

Mirage uses his invisibility power, despite it being a cartoon-specific power. Marvel comics Mirage’s power literally creates mirages.

The Caretaker says that Breakaway’s CR chamber malfunctioned. Unless being stuck in a magical statue is a CR chamber…

Again, Primus and Unicron are DEAD in Marvel continuity. Dee Eee Ay Dee. Spells dead. Which means all of Caretaker's monologue about Primus and shit does not make sense. Fun Publications, why are you so insistent?