![[The Transformers Archive - an international fan site]](/common/skin/cardbackwide/tfarchive.png)
THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA
| Marvel Comics (1984-1994) |
Japanese Manga | Other Books and Titles |
Titan Books (2001-2010) |
Club/Con (2001-2016) |
Dreamwave (2002-2004) |
Devil's Due (2003-2007) |
IDW Publishing (2005-now) |
CLUB AND CONVENTION TRANSFORMERS COMICS
Transcendent, Part 4
Reviewed by Blackjack
Issue Review
”Do not fail me again, Starscream.”
A little bit better. Now this is how you do introdumps. Instead of force-feeding us information, having Skyfall and Landquake discuss the situation while walking to get a drink is pretty well done. It basically nulls most of the conversation between them and Alpha Trion for the past two issues. However, pacing’s a little off since after the whole ‘we need to rescue Breakaway’ from last issue, it seems a little to jarring a jump. Not complaining, though. The political intrigue between Optimus, Ratbat, Starscream and Prowl is not be executed as well as I’d like, pretty basic for these sort of things. Nice cameos which aren’t too in our face. The switch of art from Alex Milne’s rather stilted, dark-shaded art to Evan Gauntt is not jarring, but there is considerable mellowing which is good for the story. Not quite there yet, though.
Notes
Those banners on the first panel are the Autobot and Decepticon insignias for TransTech although here it’s more of different divisions of the governing system.
Recalling that they are from the Armada universe, Skyfall mentions that the Spark of Combination (introduced in the Energon series) have only been active for a few decades.
The memory problems and the ancient slab we saw way back in ‘Revelations’ are mentioned by Skyfall.
On page two a neon sign reads ‘Chaar’.
Starscream’s display screen of Skyfall seems to have a bit of tetris on the side.
As with all most universes, TransTech Optimus Prime is preceeded by Sentinel Prime. According to Optimus, Sentinel is more receptive to Megatron’s doom-sayings.
Optimus Prime’s line, ‘Do not fail me again, Starscream’ seems to be a variation of the line in the live-action movie ‘you fail me yet again, Starscream’.
Who's Who
First, we talk about the characters with speaking roles, then the cameos. On the TransTech scene, we see the TransTech versions of Prowl, Optimus Prime and Starscream. Both Optimus and Starscream are based on their Draxhall Jump redesigns, albeit touched up (Starscream’s back kibble is now a cape, for example). The white and black guy is TransTech Prowl, an original design created for this story which is a cross between his G1 and Animated designs.
Also, we finally see one of Alpha Trion’s minions, namely Nightscream. He’s a TransTech body with the spark of one of the wayward Transformers, in this case (according to supplemental material) an alternate universe evil version of BM Nightscream. His design is based off another Draxhall Jump concept.
The green guy standing beside Cheetor is TransTech Scavenger, based on another Draxhall Jump concept, whose design would influence Armada Scavenger.
On page three, the first panel has pictures of a female Transformer’s face. This girl is apparently named Andromeda, the resident newscaster in the TransTech universe.
Page one, frame one:
-On the upper road, from the most left, we have Salt-Man Z, a foreign repaint of G1 Twin Twist.
-Beside Salt we have Pick-Up, an evil G1-era South-American repaint of Gears.
-Next to Pick-Up we have G1 Waverider.
-Next we have Cohrada, one of the main Maximals in the Japan-exclusive Beast Wars Neo series.
-Next we have Hydradread, a Decepticon Stormtrooper released in Europe in the interim between G1 and G2.
-Barely visible beside Hydradread is Buzzer-Bot, an obscure almost-Transformer from Hasbro’s 2004 kiddie Go-Bots line (not to be confused with Tonka’s Go-Bots).
-The guy whose head is beside Skyfall is likely G1 Breakdown.
-The guy behind Landquake is Powerflash, an Autobot Action Master released exclusively in Europe.
Page one, frame five:
-Immediately beside Landquake is the traffic light Autobot from the Cybertron cartoon, retroactively named ‘Signal Lancer’ by Hasbro.
-Signal Lancer is talking to G1 Pipes.
-Beside Pipes is apparently G1 Soundwave in the unreleased G2 Laser Rod toy body.
-Laser Rod Soundwave is talking beside what I think is the inner robot of G1 Cloudburst.
Page two, frame two:
-No idea who the guy on the far left is. Probably G1 Siren, but Siren doesn’t have wings. No idea who the red robot on the far right as well.
-Beside the mystery bots, the guy is definitely Robots in Disguise Side Burn, probably ended up there after the whole Universe fiasco.
Page two, frame four:
-Go-Bots Road Ranger in his Huffer repaint body is walking near Skyfall.
-Beside Landquake is G2 Jolt.
Also, we finally see one of Alpha Trion’s minions, namely Nightscream. He’s a TransTech body with the spark of one of the wayward Transformers, in this case (according to supplemental material) an alternate universe evil version of BM Nightscream. His design is based off another Draxhall Jump concept.
The green guy standing beside Cheetor is TransTech Scavenger, based on another Draxhall Jump concept, whose design would influence Armada Scavenger.
On page three, the first panel has pictures of a female Transformer’s face. This girl is apparently named Andromeda, the resident newscaster in the TransTech universe.
Page one, frame one:
-On the upper road, from the most left, we have Salt-Man Z, a foreign repaint of G1 Twin Twist.
-Beside Salt we have Pick-Up, an evil G1-era South-American repaint of Gears.
-Next to Pick-Up we have G1 Waverider.
-Next we have Cohrada, one of the main Maximals in the Japan-exclusive Beast Wars Neo series.
-Next we have Hydradread, a Decepticon Stormtrooper released in Europe in the interim between G1 and G2.
-Barely visible beside Hydradread is Buzzer-Bot, an obscure almost-Transformer from Hasbro’s 2004 kiddie Go-Bots line (not to be confused with Tonka’s Go-Bots).
-The guy whose head is beside Skyfall is likely G1 Breakdown.
-The guy behind Landquake is Powerflash, an Autobot Action Master released exclusively in Europe.
Page one, frame five:
-Immediately beside Landquake is the traffic light Autobot from the Cybertron cartoon, retroactively named ‘Signal Lancer’ by Hasbro.
-Signal Lancer is talking to G1 Pipes.
-Beside Pipes is apparently G1 Soundwave in the unreleased G2 Laser Rod toy body.
-Laser Rod Soundwave is talking beside what I think is the inner robot of G1 Cloudburst.
Page two, frame two:
-No idea who the guy on the far left is. Probably G1 Siren, but Siren doesn’t have wings. No idea who the red robot on the far right as well.
-Beside the mystery bots, the guy is definitely Robots in Disguise Side Burn, probably ended up there after the whole Universe fiasco.
Page two, frame four:
-Go-Bots Road Ranger in his Huffer repaint body is walking near Skyfall.
-Beside Landquake is G2 Jolt.
Goofs
Really, Skyfall and Landquake walk around Axiom Nexus while their friend Breakaway is missing? Granted, they are waiting for Alpha Trion’s plan and Breakaway’s fate is pending due to TransTech politics, but it’s hard to imagine them staying still while their companion is missing.
Ratbat’s face is still a little inconsistent. The detailing on Ratbat’s mouthplate area differ from panel to panel.
How did Landquake know about ‘the sparks of the other Transformers’? The conversation seems jumpy, as if it’s only to tell us that Alpha Trion has agents among the TransTech.
If Slaughter’s sword can warp minds, why didn’t Alpha Trion just throw it away?