TRANSFORMERS ENERGON #21

Cover Date: March 2004
Story: Simon Furman
Pencils: Joe Ng
Inks: Elaine To
Lettering: Ben Lee
Setting: The Halls Of Justice – Cybertron. Western Australia – Earth..

Plot Summary: The Four Horsemen of Unicron attack Cybertron with a vengeance, killing Transformers left and right. Optimus, Hot Shot, Ironhide and Inferno vainly try to hold them back, but are soundly beaten.

On Earth, Scorponok oversees the Terrorcons as they begin to siphon off the Enegon supplies, saying that instead of giving them to Unicron as planned, they will take it for themselves.

Nearby, Battle Ravage continues to chase Kicker and Alexis, who appear to gain the upper hand until they are both tossed from the bike, and look up to see Battle Ravage closing in.

Back on Cybertron, as the Horsemen prepare to deliver the killing blow to Optimus and his troops, help arrives in the form of the Omnicons –Strongarm, Skyblast, Signal Flare and Arcee. Strongarm helps Optimus to his feet, telling him to connect to the hub and talk to Sig Omega. He does so, and he and his troops are re-energized and reformatted with the Spark Of Combination. Newly energized, and with the arrival of reinforcements, the Horsemen soon retreat. However, Optimus still presses the need to head for Earth.

And back on Earth, Battle Ravage brings Alexis and Kicker to Scorponok, who sees that Kicker is the one that they need to lead them to ultimate power.

Transformers/Humans Featured (in rough order of appearance): Powerlinx Optimus Prime, Hot Shot, Rhinox, Cheetor, Airazor, Terrorsaur, Ironhide, Inferno, Unicron, Scorponok, Tidal Wave, Cruellock, Divebomb, Insecticon, Battle Ravage, Kicker, Alexis, Powerlinx Jetfire, Strongarm, Skyblast, Signal Flare, Arcee, Optimus Prime (Energon), Jetfire (Energon).

Other Notes: Optimus can connect to the Hub from any location on Cybertron. The Autobots have a limited understanding about Energon. Jetfire and Optimus gain their Energon bodies in this issue. Among the reinforcements are Demolisher, Hoist, Thrust and Red Alert miscolored as Ironhide.

Review: A definite improvement over the last issue, although I get the sense that the Earth side of things is going a whole lot slower that I think it should. At least we don’t have to deal with Kicker and the Armada brats throughout, so I guess there is some good out of this issue. And the artwork is spectacular, especially for an issue that primarily focuses on the battle aspect of things. I especially like Rhinox’s new design, with all the sharp points and the general ferocity that the image brings.

The major gripe about the issue that I have isn’t really part of the issue after all. For the preview of Energon #22, they still have the image of Energon Megatron blotted out. I’m sorry, but if you have absolutely no idea what E-Megs looks like by now, you’re obviously not been paying much attention.

Review by Bombshell