TRANSFORMERS ARMADA #13
Cover Date: July 2003
Story: Simon Furman
Pencils: Guido Guidi
Inks: Elaine To
Lettering: Paul Villafuerte
Setting: Earth -Northern Alaska, 93 miles due West of Barrow. Earth Orbit. Cybertron. Big Sur National Park, California.

Plot Summary:
Cyclonus continues to wail on Thrust, burying Iceberg under a avalanche of snow. Onboard his satellite rocket, Megatron says that he expected the Destruction team not to cooperate, but that he has more important things to do. Starscream detects the incoming Autobot gunship heading for the battleground. Once arriving, Optimus leads Red Alert, Hot Shot, Sparkplug, Jolt and the Race Team to rescue the downed pod before something bad happens. Red Alert begins digging for the trapped pod, as the Mini-Cons find the downed Adventure Team and Thrust. But before anything more can be done, another blast of fire comes from Megatron's satellite beam. Optimus orders Sky Blast to take out Megatron's satellite. Soon after, Cyclonus returns, and try to deal with him, as Thrust comes to, and takes off. Optimus (with some assistance from Sparkplug) soon manages to take out Cyclonus, as Sky Blast takes out Megatron's satellite. As the pod is dug out, Optimus and Sparkplug talk, but soon Sparkplug discovers that Optimus has disappered.to a destroyed and burning Cybertron! And nearby, the Mini-Con Over-Run arrives with the warning that "chaos is coming!"

Transformers/Humans Featured (in rough order of appearance):
Cyclonus, Dualor Drill Bit, Buzzsaw, Thrust, Iceberg, Megatron, Starscream, Red Alert, Hot Shot, Optimus Prime, Jolt, Sparkplug, Astroscope, Payload, Sky Blast, Downshift, Dirt Boss, Mirage, Longarm, Dune Runner, Over-Run

Other Notes:
The first panel on page 2 looks to be an EXACT rip-off of issue #12's cover. The ship the Autobots use to get to Alaska was last seen in issue #11. I find it doubtful that Thrust would run away from a battle much like he did here. Over-Run, for those who don't know, is the Mini-Con partner that comes with the SuperCon Optimus Prime figure.

Review: The bad problems begun with the last issue continue here. First off, the previews for this issue ask if "the various Mini-Con teams at last unite as one." That said, the Mini-Cons appear to be all chummy in this issue, with no hint of dissention between them. Next, the fact that both Hot Shot and Red Alert both call their Mini-Cons by name before Powerlinking brings up bad memories of the cartoon, where this has happened on an almost constant basis (and something that's NEVER happened before in the comic). There's also the fact that Megatron has apparently become his namesake, resorting to using the "Weekly Weapon Of Mass Destruction" in order to get what he wants. The only thing that saves this issue from being TOO bad are the last two pages, which do a good job at creating some mystery for the upcoming "World's Collide" story arc. Mildly recommended for those reasons, but not recommended at all as a stand alone issue.

Review by Bombshell