Transformers Classics Volume 5 Review

Posted on July 26, 2014 by dreager1

The final of my retro, retro reviews is the 5th volume of the Transformers Classics series. The original Transformers series was definitely a lot of fun and I’ll miss it. There are still a few more volumes to go before the series is concluded, but it could be a long time until I read volume 6. As always, the Autobots are in a pretty bad spot in this volume. Their numbers have diminished while there always seem to be more Decepticons on the loose. It’s a pretty fun collection with some solid stories.

There are many stories featured in this collection and while Transformers has always done pretty well with keeping a strict continuity in place, we also get some issues that don’t really add to the plot. They’re still entertaining though so it’s not a huge loss. Most of the others do have reprucussions that directly affect future comics as well so you really want to stay sharp as you read through them. I shall briefly give a synopsis for several of the comics included.

The first comic follows good ole Spike as he hikes up a mountain. He doesn’t want to be a Transformer anymore and he’s rejected that way of life to be a normal person once more. Unfortunately, Decepticons show up and Spike’s friend is put in danger. Can Spike really risk their lives just because he doesn’t feel up to the task at the moment? It’s time for Spike to make a choice! I can’t say that I cared for Spike in this issue since he should always be ready for a fight and heroes have no time to worry about being normal. It’s a tough world out there and they need to stay alert. The next comic was a pretty big change in tone as a few Autobots head into an amazonian lair. They were using their humanoid mirages so the Amazons thought that they were not human. Men are not allowed of course, but the Autobot passes the test to prove that he is worthy. Unfortunately, he then lets them know that he’s not human and he basically loses his head during the discussion. Is this really a safe refuge for the heroes? The concept of that comic was pretty intriguing, but it didn’t really have a lot of action so it wasn’t one of the best ones.

The next issue was probably the best one in the collection or it definitely ranks up there at the very least. A few of the Autobots quit the group and decide to strike out on their own. Roadhandler is challenged to a wrestling match and he obliges. He doesn’t want to throw the fight so he wins and then he proceeds to keep on winning the matches. He gets a pretty large following, but then the Decepticons come over to town. They kidnap the fans so that Roadhandler will have to throw the fight against one of them. It’s a diabolical plan, but it;s definitely an effective one. I know that Wrestling fans won’t like the fact that Wrestling is supposed to be fake in this comic, but the battles are still fun and I’m glad that Roadhandler didn’t throw the fight. All’s well that ends well and we even get a moral at the end of the comic. Not bad!

The next story is the meat of the collection as it’s a 4 parter. (Debatably, it could be said to be 5 parts since the issue afterwards deals with the aftermath) Ratchet is feeling guilty about the deaths of his comrades and he has not been able to fix them. A group of new Autobots tell Ratchet that they may have an idea on how to help so Ratchet follows them. He doesn’t contact any of the other Autobots to let them know where he was going and that turns out to be a pretty deadly mistake as the Autobots lead him to Megatron! It was a trap and Megatron intends to revive Starscream among others. Ratchet’s mistake may have ended the war.

Meanwhile, The fake Autobots lead the Autobots into a battle with Scorponok’s forces. Neither side is really in the mood, but it’s hard to exit such a battle once it has started. Both sides clash and Optimus Prime’s group definitely has the edge. Nontheless, Prime realizes that Megatron is up to something so both groups are forced to join forces. Prime is pretty upset about the whole thing and he’s not holding back any longer. The climatic battle against Megatron will resume once again!

One comic gives us the “true” origin of the Transformers. Primus and Unicron had an epic battle and Primus tricked Unicron into merging with a planet so that he wouldn’t be a threat anymore. The problem is that the plan worked a little too well and he also got trapped. Primus built some normal Transformers and that’s how things started. An energy blast hits him in the modern day and he wakes up…this could be tricky for the Transformers. There are a few stand alone issues after that where Autobots travel to various planets to try and find the Matrix, but it’s all for naught. Maybe it just cannot be found anymore.

Aside from the issues, one reason that I really like the Classics series is the fact that the volume does a good job of giving the reader a lot of extra info. Before each comic, we get a fun foreward by the author explaining details about the comic like what they were thinking when it was written or scenes that were cut out. Likewise, there is a lot of writing after each issue where each panel is discussed. It’s a very fun way to read the comics since you really get the maximum amount of enjoyment since you can safely say that you’ve seen the comic from every angle.

The art for the issues is pretty good. The Transformers Wiki typically has an error relating to the art in most of the issues, but it is easy to miss them so it’s all good. A few mixed up colors definitely won’t stop the rest of the collection from looking good and I really miss some of these designs. Bumblebee’s has changed for the better, but the rest of the fighters have never really looked as good as the G1 designs.

One thing that I did find interesting was the use of the “Fake Autobots.” I believe that they called these Decepticons “Pretenders” and it’s an apt description. It’s really a brilliant move on their part and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been tried before. Switching emblems is likely difficult, but I’m sure that it would be easy for Shockwave to invent something to make it possible. The plan worked and the only oversight was that the Decepticons should have expected Prime to quickly take down Scorponok and then put a wrench in the plans. If there were more Decepticons then it would have definitely been a pretty crushing win. I would like to see more robots use this tactic in the future since it could make for a pretty great plot. Especially in the newer comics since there are so many fighters on either

Just about all of the characters were pretty solid. Ratchet was a lot better than usual and Megatron/Optimus Prime are always great characters. The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons were decent and they played their roles well. I can’t say that I really cared for Spike since he really didn’t make the right calls as quickly as he should have. Trying to leave the Transformers just isn’t that responsible when you are the leader of a team.

Overall, This was a solid addition to the Transformers Classics series. We got to Megatron return to fight the good fight and the 4 part epic with Ratchet was pretty exciting. The wrestling issue is an example of a great story that may not work quite as well in the modern comics. It was played seriously and yet it felt like a parody from the start. I highly recommend checking out this comic if you’re a Transformers fan or if you just want some action. It will be a little tougher to really get into the volume if you’ve never read Transformers before, but you have to start somewhere right? We are definitely reaching the climax and it appears that Unicron will definitely be joining the action in the next volume. That definitely sounds fun!

Overall 7/10

Transformers Review

Posted on July 5, 2014 by dreager1

Nothing beats the original Transformers film and that never changes no matter how many times I see it. It’s easily the definitive robot film and I actually don’t believe that any will ever be able to pass it. Nonstop action and a solid cast of characters keep this classic afloat and after Transformers 4, it was time to relive the good ole days. Get ready for an emotional war as the Autobots and Decepticons have their climatic clash!

The plot starts after most of the TV show events have already occurred. The Decepticons have a huge advantage thanks to the fact that they have already conquered Cybertron and the Autobots seem to be very weakened. The heroes are low on energon and they only have a city on Earth as well as a pair of moons. The Decepticons decide to destroy this resistance once and for all and a climatic battle ensues. Meanwhile, the legendary Unicron is on his way to Cybertron and he’s already conquered several planets. Defeating him is basically out of the question at this point. Can the Autobots even afford to worry about him with all of the Decepticons who are around? Only time will tell!

The film is really fast paced and so many plots develop throughout the course of the film. This is considering that the film isn’t even a full 90 minutes! The first half hour is easily the best part of the film as we witness a big Decepticon invasion and the heroes heroically try to fend them off. It’s emotional and the fight scenes are just intense. The film doesn’t really slow down until we get to the planet of Junk where the film gives the audience a brief rest. After that, it’s time for the climax against the planet eater.

Ironically enough, the climax is one of the least exciting parts. After the first 50-60 minutes of nonstop action and battles between the two sides of Transformers, the final half hour is a little uneventful. We have a water planet, the junk planet, and then a quick battle against Unicron. It’s still solid of course, but nothing beats the first chunk of the film. All of the classic fighters get their chance to show what they’re made of.

Optimus Prime is still the fearless leader of the Autobots and this continuity was easily his best portrayal. Prime means business and he effortlessly takes out quite a few Decepticon warriors. His climatic battle against Megatron is still famous and the battle was very well done. Prime is essentially the perfect main character and he really had no flaws in the film. I doubt we’ll ever see him look quite this good again, but he’s consistently been a solid character across the multiverse anyway. His shotgun/cannon also looks impressive and it’s definitely one of the stronger weapons in the film. He may not have gotten a very large role, but it was definitely a critical one.

Megatron is also an excellent villain. He is a great leader for the Decepticons and his plan is a solid one. Infiltrating Autobot city nearly ended the war in an instant. He took out quite a few Autobots and he seems to have a lot of energon since he was fighting all day. I will admit that I was always surprised with the fact that Megatron begs for his life at one point. I suppose that he doesn’t care what he has to do in order to defeat Optimus Prime, but as Prime said “I thought you were made of sterner stuff.” Megatron is able to get past this thanks to the fact that he’s an awesome villain and the film wouldn’t have been the same without him.

It was good to see Grimlock since I really didn’t like his portrayal in TF 4. This is the Dinobot that I remember and he’s acknowledged as one of the strongest Autobots. There’s a reason why Prime sent the Dinobots to take out Devastator! Few other robots could have been challenged with such a task. Grimlock may not have crushed Devastator, but he did pretty well with the other Dinobots. (The other Dinobots are cool as well and I believe that Slag may have done more damage than Grimlock, but their roles were a lot smaller so I won’t really be talking about them) Grimlock even humors Wheelie for a while and then takes command of a huge army of Sharkticons. That’s what I’m talking about!

Hot Rod is essentially the main character of the film and this is how I became a big fan of the character. He may have gotten a little watered down in the comics that came out after this, but he still looks pretty good in the film. He shoots at the Decepticons upon seeing them and then he embarks on a dangerous journey with the others so that they can mount a counter attack. When he finds out that the Matrix has been stolen, Hot Rod immediately says that they should attack and get it back.

Now, his only sad moment is when Megatron is able to easily overpower him and shoot Prime. It’s a controversial move since it can be said that Prime would have won otherwise. I am confident that Megatron would have still shot him, but maybe it would have only been once instead of several times. It’s definitely a debate, but Hot Rod’s intentions were sound and he really did try to help. It just turns out that his power was feeble compared to Megatron’s and he never stood a chance. He still pulls through when it counts and that’s what ultimately matters. He officially ended the wars and changed history!

Bumblebee gets a very small role in the film and he only gets a line or maybe a few more. His design is definitely interesting and it’s one of the only ones from G1 that didn’t really become mainstream. I will always prefer this version since he can talk to most of the others, but he definitely wasn’t a star in this film. He doesn’t even say thanks at the end when Daniel saves his life. It was still good to see him get a cameo though.

Unicron is the big bad villain of the film and he makes for a solid threat. Instead of talking tough and doing something gritty to call attention to himself, Unicron just destroys the planet in one fell swoop. After that, he sets his sights on Cybertron and it’s a pretty epic journey. He takes out two moons for fun as he gets closer and closer to his goal. His attack on Cybertron is also one of the few times where we actually get to see Shockwave mobilize the troops so that was cool. (Although the Decepticons did not last for very long) Unicron’s decision to transform into robot mode was his big mistake. The enemies quickly took advantage of this and Unicron is essentially defenseless in this form. It’s why I am opposed to villains being too large. It just makes them vulnerable in the end. Ignoring that, he was still a pretty solid opponent for the Autobots and his voice was nice and menacing. Not even Megatron was able to stand up to his tricks.

Galvatron is the new villain who was introduced for the film. He’s not as new as you may think, but that’s another story and you’ll realize this as you watch the film. His arsenal is impressive and taking on Starscream is a pretty good feat. The scene should be pretty cool if you’re a fan of Galvatron or if you’ve just wanted to see this happen to Starscream for a while now. Galvatron talks tough throughout the film and he can back it up with his high amounts of power. You have to respect the fact that he never gives up and keeps on trying to make his plans succeed. He’s just in a very difficult position to make this actually happen. He is a very good villain for the film.

Wheelie is definitely the worst Transformers robot. His voice is definitely tough to understand and you stop trying after a while. The rhymes were a little over the top. I do applaud the fact that the film tried to make the voices unique, but it just didn’t work this time. Wheelie ends up sticking around through the next TV show, but I can’t say that it was a good thing. He doesn’t really bring down the film a whole lot, but he’s still unnecessary.

Wreck Gar is from the Planet Junk and he talks in radio signals mixed in with TV. It’s very hard to understand him and I can’t say that I liked him as a character. It helps that the whole Planet of Junk was a little uneventful and I didn’t like the Piranha world that much either. Wreck Gar just doesn’t really add much to the plot and I’m a little skeptical on how that junk would be so sturdy. He must know something that I do not.

Kup is one of the major players in this film, but he’s never been one of my favorite Autobots. He can fight and he has a lot of experience, but it just wasn’t enough to win me over. He’s not a bad character, but he’s really not the type of guy that I tend to find likable. He’s just too old and he doesn’t fight all that much. He talks a good game, but he typically can’t back it up. Still, he did pretty well when he took out the tank so I give him props for that.

Ultra Magnus is one of the major Autobots and I used to think that he was a powerful fighter based on the name. I’m sure that he’s tough, but there’s nothing to really suggest that he’s tougher than the other Autobots in this film. I’m definitely a fan of his, but the film really tried to show why he wasn’t a terrific leader. He didn’t have time to worry about his comrades and his one on two fight didn’t go over so well. Dropping the Matrix of Leadership was likely his biggest mistake. It would have been great if Ultra Magnus could have went down putting up more of a fight. He may not be the next Prime, but he’s still a likable Autobot.

Daniel is the new human companion to the Autobots, but he isn’t a great character. He means well and he helped the Autobots to become aware of the Decepticon threat, which likely saved many bots. However, he just wasn’t much of an asset to the team and he didn’t figure out how to use his energy gun until the climax of the film. Also, asking the Autobots what happened to Spike during such a dangerous situation was a little on the dicey side and he even broke the great air board from the intro of the film. He’s still a step up from the protagonist of the Transformers Trilogy.

Spike was one of the main characters from the TV show, but he doesn’t get a huge role in the movie. He decides to leave Unicron a little present in the form of a bomb, but he took too long admiring his craftsmanship to make enough time to escape. I can’t say that he was very likable, but he wasn’t a bad character either. He was just pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and he definitely panicked a lot when Daniel hesitated to save his life. I suppose that it was understandable though….

Arcee doesn’t look very good in this film and it was before the big social wave that helped to make female characters much stronger in today’s media. This is before Arcee became the pro fighter that we see in Transformers Prime. She helps Daniel out through the tough times, but she never gets a chance to fight back. I would have liked to see her fight some Decepticons and the closest that she comes to this is when she breaks one of the tires on an enemy car when the Junk bots attack. So, she definitely couldn’t look as good as the other Transformers without any fight scenes, but she was all right I suppose. Definitely needed some action though.

Starscream really steals the show for the Decepticons. He’s the one Decepticon in the film that I prefer to Megatron. His shreeky voice is iconic at this point and some would even say that it is more memorable than Prime’s or Megatron’s. That may go a little far, but it’s definitely one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of Transformers. This is Starscream as he was meant to be portrayed and the fact that he directly insults Megatron instead of beating around the bush is intense. “How do you feel mighty Megatron!” as Starscream kicks him while he’s down. His lines to Megatron as he throws him out of the starship are great as well and he even got to wear a crown. It’s hard to find any character that’s as good as Starscream.

Soundwave gets a pretty small role in the film, but he is the only Decepticon to show any loyalty to Megatron. He may not have stopped the others from throwing him off of the ship, but he did save him from the being left at the Autobot base. Soundwave’s definitely one of the more useful Decepticons and I’ve always liked him as a character. Letting the constructicons know who was superior was definitely a nice line as well.

The film’s soundtrack is dynamite and just about all of the songs are catchy. The only one that I didn’t care for played during the planet of Junk as they all held hands and danced around. It really wasn’t my type of film and I definitely could have gone without it. Aside from that, it’s hard to even know where to begin. It really makes you feel like you’re watching a theatrical film. The music is loud and it’s energetic. You really get into the fight scenes and they’re well played. The main Transformers theme is easily my favorite tune and I’ve listened to it many times. It ends up making the opening credits really exciting and you know that you’re definitely getting your money’s worth.

The animation is also excellent. This film came out in the 80’s and yet, it looks so much better than some 2014 shows like Pac Man and Teen Titans Go. (Still airing in 2014 anyway) This film always helps to reinforce the fact that animation has been on the decline in America. We need to get away from Flash and CGI so that we can go back to traditional hand drawn shows/films. I’ve viewed this film on dvd many times and it’s finally starting to show some wear and tear. The final 20-30 minutes saw a drop in quality, but it wasn’t the film, just the disk. This film definitely deserves the blu ray treatment and then more people can see the epicness from which Transformers was born. The animation definitely holds up very well to this day and I can say with confidence that it is timeless.

Overall, this is not just the definitive Transformers film, but it is the best robot film out there. The cast of characters is excellent and the soundtrack is top notch. The animation pulls no punches and there is action throughout the film. The fight scenes are very well done and the robots focus on winning instead of tearing each other to shreds for a while. This results in accurate shots that take the robot down in an instant. There were only a few characters that I didn’t really care for and things slowed down towards the end, but that’s not a major concern. I highly recommend this film to Transformers fans and to anyone that wants to relive the good ole theater experience. The film is nearly perfect and I doubt that it shall ever be surpassed by another Transformers film. I recommend watching this one whenever you are about to watch the Michael Bay version.

Overall 9/10

Transformers Age of Extinction Review

Posted on June 30, 2014 by dreager1

I’m a pretty huge Transformers fan and the franchise has been great in many areas. Comics, TV Shows, and Video games have all been greatly produced. The live action films is the area in which Transformers typically falters. I had some decently high hopes coming into the fourth film despite the first three because the trailer was pretty solid and it should be a fun experience. Well, it’s essentially the same as the last film so things didn’t get much better for me. The film jumps in head first and manages to fall into just about every hole as it struggles to the finish line. Still, the film had some good moments…let’s look at how things played out.

Everyone is still sad over the battle of Chicago and the world has moved on. The government has decided to start destroying all of the Autobots who are still out there. Well, the CIA is doing this and the President is unaware of the situation. (The government is very uncoordinated in this film) Meanwhile, Cade finds a truck when he is buying things to help him invent something amazing and it turns out to be Optimus Prime. Together, they must find the other Autobots and stop Lockdown. (Who has made a contract with the humans) With a film that’s around 3 hours, there are definitely a lot of subplots to help keep the plot from ending too fast. Those will be mentioned in the character bio sections.

Cade is the main character and he’s a solid character. He’s definitely not great, but he does his best to get through the days. He’s tough when it counts. He may have been a little on the generic side and lacked character development, but it happens. He’s very overpowered and it’s hard to take his fight scenes seriously, but he doesn’t squander the power. He’s definitely one of the only likable humans and without him the film would have been a little tougher to watch. He did the right thing in helping his daughter to stay away from guys for a while and while it didn’t ultimately work, you can’t blame him for trying. Cade’s a noble character and we get so few of those nowadays.

Optimus Prime is back of course and this portrayal of him is definitely different compared to any of the others that we’ve seen in the past. Prime isn’t advocating for human safety anymore and he’s not here to show that all sentient beings have the fight to freedom. He’s here to destroy enemies and leave the planet. It’s definitely a big change from what we have seen in the past and I can’t say that it’s a good thing. Optimus starts off the film in a badly injured state thanks to the events which have transpired off screen. The humans want the Autobots dead after all and with their primitive technology, they’ve just about done it.

This likely hurt Prime’s logic circuits and his first few scenes are all about him saying how he will destroy the opponent as he fights a (losing) battle against the humans. The feral Prime battles with Lockdown, but it’s more of a chase scene since the Autobot is on the run. He begins to regain his reason once he’s back in normal form, but things don’t go so well during his big break in. After that whole operation and seeing what was being done…why didn’t he wreck the place? Leaving it intact was a huge mistake and then we get to watch the heroes get beaten up again. They weren’t as unprepared as last time, but it can be a little irritating to see.

Prime then makes the right move to leave once and for all after finishing up a mission, but ends up making a controversial move. After Man of Steel, everyone loves to use the controversial card as we have heroes stretching their limits to see if they are still heroes. We saw some of that in Amazing Spider-Man 2, Xmen Days of Future Past, older films like James Bond and Star Wars used this as well. It’s pretty unnecessary, but not nearly as bad as Superman’s moment. It will hurt Prime’s portrayal as the hero a bit, but it wasn’t a terrible moment. Letting his guard down is another story. I also really disliked how he handled the Dinobot situation. Threatening them and then forcing them to help out is pretty uncharacteristic and it felt like a Decepticon move.

In the end, I have to say that this version of Prime may be the worst one that I’ve seen. He’s not terribly heroic anymore and he seems slightly more mindless. Not completely of course, but he’s always going on about how he’s going to destroy someone. He just really sounds as if he’s broken and maybe that will be a plot point later on. Perhaps not because his voice slowly starts to go back to normal by the end, but he was definitely off. Since the next film will likely be a sequel, it’ll be interesting to see how his character arc goes. I do wish that Prime had taken a more traditional personality in the film, but these things happen. He’s still the best character in the film (Which says a lot eh?) and I just had a lot of complaints about his portrayal. I do like that he took matters into his own hands and finally decided that the humans are not always worth the trouble.

Galvatron gets a role in the film, but it’s relatively small. There are a few twists about his origin and they were well played. I wish that he could have appeared more since his short appearances were pretty epic. His plan is decently well thought out and his minions being so weak was likely not in his calculations. Otherwise, it could have been the end of everything! He’s the best antagonist in the film and I was surprised by how cool he was.

Lockdown is the main villain of the film at least according to all of the trailers. In the actual film, it is a little debatable with all of the major human players around. Still, Lockdown’s a solid villain and he definitely means business when battling the Autobots. Since he’s a mercenary, Lockdown gets to make fun of the Autobots and Decepticons. Power wise, he’s high tier, but one of the weakest ones of that caliber. He would likely get wrecked by Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime, Galvatron, or Megatron in a fair fight. His battles in this film were typically against opponents who were already weakened or against one who could get distracted. In a fair fight, I don’t believe that he would have done quite as well. Of course, power isn’t everything and he still looks pretty good. I can safely say that he’s much better in the film than in the video game. He’s one of the few likable villains in the film since he at least makes sure to have a motive and solid lines.

Bumblebee’s character is a whole lot different from the last ones. He’s a lot more reckless and he picks fights whenever possible. He risked jeopardizing the mission just to finish a personal vendetta. These are all great traits, but his character change just came out of nowhere. Also, getting humiliated by Drift didn’t help with this. Overall, Bumblebee was still a good Autobot and great compared to most of the other cast, but he didn’t feel like Bumblebee. Regardless, I wouldn’t mind if he kept this personality since it’s a lot more intense than how he used to be.

I really don’t like Hound and I have to wonder why they chose to include him when there are so many better Autobots that could have been in it. He’s the “hardcore” Autobot who’s been through his share of fights and now he’s very gruff and experienced. He shows this by shooting a defenseless alien creature after going to the cage and getting spat at. Hound completely destroys the creature and it was essentially an unprovoked attack. He definitely doesn’t make the Autobots look like the heroes with actions like that. Hopefully he is not in the sequel.

As much as I didn’t like Hound, Crosshairs may have been even worse. How he became an Autobot is beyond me, but he’s always acting like a Decepticon. He clearly says that he plans on becoming leader and he loves to start fights. We’re supposed to get back on his side when he makes the “hero” move to take out a few enemy ships, but why should that make me like him? He essentially had to do it as they would have blown him up anyway. He’s another Autobot that I hope doesn’t get to appear in the next installment.

Drift was one of the main Autobots in this film, but he was also wrecked. I didn’t care for his character as he was essentially a Japanese stereotype. He strongly believes in honor and he doesn’t resort to violence…except when he does. His only good scene is when he defeats Bumblebee in their fight, but even then I can’t say that it was very impressive. He barely even got a chance to use his swords and there was nothing to separate him from the others. He’s an excellent fighter in the comics and his personality is great. We don’t get to see any of that in the film. He just isn’t likable and I can’t say that I really care for the character design.

Ratchet gets a very small appearance in this film and it’s not a good one. Unfortunately, he suffers from the fact that the Autobots must stay true to their beliefs and stay away from retaliating against humans. Even so, I believe that he should have looked a lot better. At least put up a fight as you go down! The design also didn’t even look remotely like Ratchet. His scenes were definitely not enjoyable and it doesn’t help the Autobot cause.

Joshua (KSI head) is one of the big antagonists from the start and we get to watch his “character development” as he becomes a likable guy. Unfortunately, he was just too far gone and I couldn’t sympathize with him. I also just didn’t find any of his scenes very humorous. It was just over for me at that point and his faint attempts as being likable and emotional fell short. I just found it odd as to how much screentime he got in the later half and how we’re supposed to feel sorry for him. He’s not as bad as some of the other villains, but definitely bad enough.

Tessa was definitely one of the more unlikable characters in the film. We have another rebellious protagonist who makes things hard for Cade and she’s constantly lying so that he won’t know that she has an affair. At least she didn’t make “The call.” (You’ll know what “the call” is when watching the film. Let’s just say that it involves a whole lot of money!) Tessa was really just annoying from the beginning and it would be great if she could have been written out along with shameless Shane. (More on him in a bit) Making matters worse is her refusal to cross the bridge later on due to the dangers of heights. I can sympathize as I’m mildly hesitant to go to high placed myself, but I’m in the middle of a firefight…I would make the effort. Her character development just took her south the whole time. She was a decent character at the beginning and slowly started to fade when Shane appeared on the laptop. Then she dropped off of the character development cliff when Shane actually appeared. Staying out late and deceiving Cade just aren’t cool traits in a hero.

Shane is a pretty terrible character and he definitely didn’t help the film at all. Not only does he make sure to give up and essentially leave his friends to die whenever possible, but he’s really…stuck up. We’re supposed to take his side (I think) and sympathize with him because everyone only lives once and all, but I definitely did not. All of his lines were pretty cringe worthy and I’m glad that Cade gave him a tough time for the whole film. Shane should have just walked away and exited after his first scene. He would still be a bad character, but at least his appearances would be limited. His line about the mouthwash was just as bad as his other lines and I have to wonder how anyone could stand his “Cooler than you” attitude throughout the film. It works for guys like Gary Oak…but Shane. At least he (hopefully) won’t appear in the sequel.

Harold is another one of the big human villains in the film and he’s just as unlikable as you may have expected. There really isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel for him and he should at least expect that nothing will come of his plans. Does he really think that he will be able to just disappear and keep all of the money? I don’t believe that he thought things through and he just makes for a boring antagonist. Well, he also serves to bring up the moral aspect for the film, which we really didn’t need, but it happens.

James does things personally as opposed to hiring others to do the dirty work. He’s a decent fighter and he has a lot of past experience. In the end, he does get his own fight, but it’s out of place in this film and the fight scene is not fun. Michael Bay decided to make it ultra realistic and gritty so that it ends up being a scuffle that you want to fast forward instead of an epic fight. He’ll never be a likable character and I’m sure that everyone won’t even remember his name as they walk out of the theater.

Lucas is “The Friend.” Why the quotations? Well, in the Transformer films, there is always that one character who talks to the main character, thereby exposing that he’s a pretty petty person at heart. Sometimes, the character is just downright bad like Lucas. His first lines are terrible and I immediately disliked the guy. Haven’t we had enough characters who were attracted to everyone? Getting hit in the face by a Football was also embarrassing and his scenes get worse. He is supposed to be funny, but it’s hard to find him humorous when 1 out of every 3 jokes would just be in bad taste. Luckily, his appearance in the film is pretty brief. Tough to watch, but still brief.

As for the Dinobots, they were clearly added just to sell the tickets. They only really get to appear for a few minutes and most of their scenes have already been online for weeks thanks to trailers and clips. Worse than that is the fact that they just didn’t look very good. They were essentially mindless brutes who crave action, but lack skill. It’s cool for Optimus Prime fans to see him beat up Grimlock, but the fight is incredibly one sided. Prime just shows how slow and ineffective Grimlock is as he lands blow after blow. If he can be bested so easily, why are the Dinobots a game changer? It would appear that they are strong, but without skill and reason. Luckily, this is enough to take out the fake Transformers. The flying one was definitely the coolest design wise, but I can’t say much else for them. I expect much bigger things in the next film.

I have to say that I was disappointed in the film from the very beginning. Transformers’ intro for this film is one of the worst that I have experienced in quite a while. We start by getting to see an animal eaten and then a mass genocide where the animals don’t really get to make it. It didn’t get much better from there as that may have been the only big case of animal violence, but it was a really sad way to start the film.

The Transformers films have always had a lot of gross violence in them and I’m afraid that is doesn’t end with this film. An alien uses its tongue to attack one of the heroes and I’m sure that we all know what will happen as soon as the hero grabs the knife. It happens so often and it’s always pretty wince worthy to see the act. The hero may not have had a choice, but it’s the film made the choice to add the irrelevant scene as well.

How about the fight scenes in general? Well, the main problem with them is that there isn’t really any substance. The fights aren’t glamorous like Spiderman or expertly choreographed like Captain America. This results in really gritty human fights that aren’t even fun to watch and robots wrestling with each other. The human fight scene is just awful so I won’t really go into it, but it’s not enjoyable. It’s what you would expect from a film like 300 or a big war film like the Hobbit, not in Transformers. Then the fight scenes simply aren’t very enjoyable and I blame it on the effects.

Maybe Live Action simply isn’t ready to have large robots fighting each other. Every time they transform, the robots typically have to hit the ground or take a long time to complete the action. They just seem as if they aren’t comfortable as that size and every movement is an effort. A good example of this is when Prime tries to jump to another building as he’s being chased. His jump is pretty terrible and it would be akin to me trying to jump over a fire hydrant and tripping over it. Based on his size, the jump should have been no problem and easy for him. It’s as if the robots are just wearing robot suits, which restrict their movements and make everything stiff.

So, that translates into the fights. The only good fights in the film were really Prime’s final fight against Lockdown and also his fight against Galvatron. Even those weren’t amazing, but they were good enough. They were actual fights. The rest of the action in the film mainly consisted of just blowing up minions or car chase scenes. Technically, those two battles were probably the only fights in the entire film. We had a brief skirmish with Bumblebee and Lockdown, but it wasn’t long enough to be considered a fight.

That’s likely another one of the problems that we have here. The film has a lot of explosions and action throughout and it may have worked for another film, just not Transformers. I was waiting for the big mecha fights so I will admit that I was basically waiting for that the whole time and the rest was just padding. Unfortunately, that was pretty much all of the action that I was going to get. The film loves to show off Cade shooting the Transformers and the heroes “epicly” slaying the villains, but one hit KO attacks are never fun if they are around constantly. It’s like the Avengers film as they beat up on the aliens. At least we got some scuffles and a Hulk vs Thor fight before that. I would have been satisfied if we got more fights, but none of them really happened.

Horror films have a tendency to have the main characters swearing every few minutes, but typically action films don’t follow this. Now, Michael Bay is involved with the Transformers franchise and that could be why, but the characters are always yelling crude things whenever something explodes or they are shocked. We have the generic moment where the guy uses the “big” word and the audience clapped a lot. I could only metaphysically shake my head and wish that the G1 film would suddenly go on the air.

The next issue with the film was the….Fanservice! I really saw this one coming from a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any more bearable. We have the obnoxious friend of the main character who makes sure to be point it out and show that he isn’t a good person. Then we have the whole plot between Tessa and Shane, which is terrible. I’ve already talked about it in length so I won’t go into it so much, but it’s not cool. Naturally, Tessa is using the new fashion of super short pants that really do not even count as pants anymore. What is the world coming to? I could really go on, but you get the picture. To the film’s (Really) slight credit, there is much less fanservice than the first two films and possibly the third. So, the series is making some slight improvement in that area, but it’s happening too slowly. There really weren’t too many scenes like that, but the problem was that they were mostly at the very beginning, which really takes you out of the film as you have to try and forget them as soon as possible.

Human Empowerment is the theme that really helps to wreck the film. At one point, Cade gives Optimus Prime a speech about how he needs to learn how to trust humans again. Yeah…….no. No, that is not what Prime should do and Cade should feel ashamed for even mentioning that. He has no political power so he would be convincing Optimus to stay in a hostile place where the government will just destroy him at any time. Prime has already lost a whole lot thanks to the humans and he shouldn’t need to lose more. Unfortunately, we’re supposed to agree with Cade since we’re humans and all. I’d rather that Prime just blew up the planet or decided to rule it. Either way, the Earth would likely be a lot more peaceful.

Unfortunately, the biggest effect of human empowerment is that they look too good in the fight scenes. See, these kind of moments are added because it is supposed to unite us as fans. Many people cheered when Jaws was taken down and they did the same thing in Alien and Terminator. The problem is that it can be very hard to root for the humans in the modern films. I can safely say that the protagonist was likable in Alien and Jaws and the government wasn’t to bad so it was okay. Innocents were being taken down in Jaws so the main character took some steps. Capturing Jaws would have been a lot better and it would have helped the film jump up a few stars, but it happened. There weren’t really any innocents in Alien so it’s a little trickier and I don’t want to get too off topic. The problem in Transformers is that they show such a large amount of evil humans. These guys just want an excuse to murder sentient beings and they figure that destroying a Transformer will be fun. Thus, we get to see the humans destroy many robots and they’re sure to do it in cruel ways.

That’s one of the problems about being a hero. If the main characters had been 5 Decepticons, you can bet that the humans would already be destroyed. Unfortunately, the heroes don’t fight back until it’s too late and they’re never as advanced as the villains. The Decepticons always have some big weapon that they can use to enslave humanity, but the Autobot tech tends to be primitive in comparison. Aside from evil humans taking out the Autobots, we have the equally (un)believable moments of humans taking on villains.

Cade is the main offender of this as we get to see him mow down over a dozen robots. There’s one particular scene that is reminiscent of the Storm Troopers as he’s in plain view and all of the robots keep on missing him. There is no one else in this scene so you can’t make the argument that they are distracted. The robots simply keep on missing until Cade has fired enough shots to beat them. Another sad moment is when Cade jumps into the climax and he actually blocks a sword strike by lifting up his gun. I didn’t know that this guy could bench press several tons. The robot was swinging with full force and Cade just blocked it. That’s really unbelievable and it drives the human empowerment thing way too far.

The soundtrack is pretty good and Lockdown’s theme is easily the best part of it. It comes whenever he appears and it’s a nice theme of tension and sadness as you know that things won’t go well for the heroes. It’s pretty catchy and it definitely works for the film. The insert songs are also decent some of the time. We get a nice rock song as one point I believe and then we also have some soft ones that can be a little off putting. It definitely depends, but through it all, the soundtrack was pretty good. Not 5 star material, but definitely good enough.

I won’t even get started on the “rage” scenes where Optimus Prime and Cade fail to deliver. Every time….it just doesn’t work. I expected some more retaliation from them. The guy in the elevator who knew hand to hand combat was good and the girl with the motorcycle was a decent character as well. These two just got really small roles although the girl’s was almost big enough to be considered as a supporting character by the end. The lady who finds the bones in the opening basically vanishes so I can’t say that she got much of a role either. It was essentially filler since the Dinobots weren’t there. Then again, this film had a whole lot of filler so that it could get around 3 hours. All you need to do is look at the scene where a man asks if Cade has insurance…nuff said.

The film did have a moment of brilliance as one of Hasbro’s biggest franchises of all time got to make a cameo. MLP…Yes, My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic got a cameo as Rainbow Dash entered the stage. It was pretty intense and fans of the series will either like the cameo or feel that it is parodying the whole Brony issue. I won’t get into that here of course, but I’m sure that it was the latter since Bay loves to throw in stereotypes whenever possible. It was still nice to see Rainbow Dash get included though.

Overall, my hopes for this film were shattered. I just barely didn’t give it a negative rating as the film had so many flaws. I’m a pretty huge Transformers fan if I do say so myself and seeing this version of it can be unsettling. They essentially wrecked Optimus Prime and Drift. The Transformers look very weak since simple armaments can take them down for the count. The Dinobots were essentially thrown in at the last minute and the film still had some of the usual (terrible) humor and fanservice. Most of the characters were downright unlikable and the action wasn’t really enjoyable. Lockdown, Prime, Galvatron, Case, and the soundtrack helped the film to stay afloat. Believe it or not, I still have high hopes that future Transformers films can be good, but I believe that they will have to change a lot of the current roster. Getting a new director and writer would be a very good start and it should be a remake. This continuity needs to end! The ending for the film is decent thanks to the fact that it could help the sequel if we follow the big plot, but I have a feeling that it will be ignored and the next film will be on Earth again. I certainly hope not. Either way, the film was really long so there isn’t any replay value and I would definitely not recommend this film to anyone. (There isn’t even an after credits scene) If you want a good Transformers film, check out the original animated one. Now that was a film!

Overall 5/10

Transformers Rise of The Dark Spark Stats and Records

Posted on June 27, 2014 by dreager1

My stats for the new Transformers game!!

PS3 Trophy% 65%
Level 15
Challenges 28% Complete
Distinctions 32% Complete
Stalker Logs 16%
Veteran Logs 16%
Entrepreneur Logs 0%

Escalation Stats

Obsidian
Score 15473
Kills 104
Vehicle Kills 25
Deaths 1
Headshots 1
Tech Kills 1
Ability Kills 3
Defeated Soldiers 56
Defeated Rocket Troopers 20
Defeated Shotgunners 5
Defeated Snipers 8
Defeated Leapers 4
Defeated Titans 0
Waves 14
Shards Earned 26198
Shards Spent 19320
Defeated Power Foes 1
Time Played 48m

Campaign Stage Stats

Level 1 34m
Level 2 85m
Level 3 40m
Level 4 25m
Level 5 28m
Level 6 26m
Level 7 39m
Level 8 34m
Level 9 22m
Level 10 26m
Level 11 23m
Level 12 7m
Level 13 20m
Level 14 22m

Transformers Rise of The Dark Spark Review

Posted on June 27, 2014 by dreager1

We are nearing the opening of the new Transformers film so excitement is certainly in the air. (Unless you’re a Jetfire fan) Likely to celebrate, Hasbro came out with a time travel game that features the heroes from the films and their older counterparts from the War For Cybertron games. In this game, they are of the same continuity and the Cybertron era merely takes place thousands of years before the current days. It’s nice to see both versions fight on the big screen. I can definitely say that this game holds up against the tough Transformers legacy. This legacy is powerful because all of the Transformers games that I’ve played (Minus Animated) have been awesome. I can safely say that they’ve all been 8s or very strong 7s. Transformers tends to have amazing gameplay and that’s what I expected from this game. Luckily, I was not disappointed!

The plot involves a ~~man~~ ~~machine~~ being by the name of Lockdown. He arrives on Earth and then decides that the Dark Spark will be his. The Autobots don’t know what he intends to do with this power, but they must stop him and put an end to these dangerous plans. Optimus Prime will have the help of his classic pal Bumblebee and the honor bound Drift. The three of them will foil Lockdown’s plans once and for all! Meanwhile, thousands of years ago, the Decepticons learn of the Dark Spark after becoming aware of the existence of the Insecticons. Optimus Prime realizes that if Megatron obtains such power, it could be the end of everything. Prime’s allies in this quest are Sideswipe, Jetfire, and Jazz among others. They face heavier resistance than their future counterparts as Megatron is aided by legendary figures like Starscream, Shockwave, and Soundwave. One Shall Find The Dark Spark and One Shall Fall To The Dark Spark!

Lockdown makes his big appearance in this game. I haven’t really seen him before now so it was interesting to see his personality. He’s definitely a little more..chipper compared to the other villains. That’s not the best word to describe him though. Maybe sarcastic or old? Either way, I can’t say that I’m a fan of Lockdown, but he makes for a decent final boss. His character design is humanoid, which is always good because bosses are much more fun to face off against when they’re your own size. His plan is intriguing and it makes a lot more sense than the average villain plan so I give him props for it. It’s an ingenious way to use the Dark Spark.

Optimus Prime gets a large role of course and now you can finally decide which Prime is more likable. The one from the movies or the one from the games. It’s fun because the movie version has had three games while the game version has had two, but they’ve both gotten to appear a lot. I prefer the game version slightly as he seems to be a lot more…intense. He’s in the middle of a war so he’s more serious and it’s great to see him ripping down doors whenever you go through a level. I can easily agree with the many fans of Optimus Prime that he is one of the best characters in the franchise. He takes Megatron on directly (At last!) and he certainly fights pretty well.

This is really the first that I get to see of Drift’s cinematic personality. The mask makes for an interesting twist and it probably takes his character a little too seriously, but I thought that they did a good job with Drift. He still follows his honor code and he’s kept his legendary speed and sword wielding. He’s one of my favorite characters to play as and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing him in the film. This could be the push that he needs to make it into the top 10 most popular Transformers. I hope so since he’s definitely one of the better ones.

Megatron surprisingly gets a small role in this game. He appears at the very end of the past storyline. He does still manage to take on Optimus Prime in a one on one fight, but you wouldn’t become an instant fan of his through this game. He’s not quite as threatening as he was in War For Cybertron. I still like his design in this game, but I would have preferred that they went with a classic G1 appearance of the one from Prime.

Bumblebee’s role is also surprisingly small, but they still manage to give him a lot of hype. He immediately figures out the villain’s plan and then it’s all up to him to save the day. That certainly takes a lot of character, but I wish that he could talk. Remember his epic voice from War For Cybertron? Ah well, I still like his movie design so that’s great to see.

There were naturally many other fighters, but their personalities are more or less what you’d expect. Jetfire seems like a likable character even if his accent can be a little tricky. Starscream is as likable as usual and he still tends to get the best moments. Soundwave actually gets his own level, which will certainly be fun for fans. The insecticons are decently cool in their roles and Shockwave remains as one of the best Decepticons. He’s powerful and he tends to take command when Megatron isn’t around. Cliffjumper is still around, but he continues to lose at every opportunity. I wonder if he’ll ever look really good again.
The gameplay is essentially what you would expect from the other Transformers games, but I shall talk about it in case you haven’t played them. It’s a third person shooter and you typically have to destroy all of the enemy robots. You’re playing as a robot, which can be a little dicey at times, but also epic as well. Believe it or not, the robot genre is probably one of my weakest ones aside from Golf. Games like Armored Core and Gundam have had me stumped in the past. (Albeit, not for long except for Armored Core) Luckily, it’s easy to move your robot around and it just takes a little getting used too at first.

I love third person shooting games and it’s easily one of my favorite genres. I would say that the only genre that I prefer to it is third person fighting like Dragon Ball Z/Dynasty Warriors. Third place would be 2D fighters. This one performs well for the gameplay as everything is smooth. Flying is always fun and it adds that extra dynamic to the game. Who doesn’t want to soar through the skies and defeat all who oppose you? It’s just a blast! I highly recommend using vehicle mode whenever possible since it’s great to just blast away at opponents with your rockets or missiles.

The gameplay is largely the same for all levels, but there are two times where you get to control large characters. Grimlock and Bruticus. Playing as them can be fun since the game essentially turns into a beat em up. You just hack and slash your way through all of the opponents and get to the goal. Two factors to the gameplay that I forgot to mention are the hacks and tech. The tech is essentially an item that activates for a little while 6X EXP, or maybe a little battle droid. The hacks aren’t the gameshark kind, but they make the game more challenging for extra EXP. One way in which this occurs is letting enemies do extra damage so that you can get double EXP. It lasts for the entire level or until you die from the overwhelming power. It’s a nice element to add to the game and it makes it a lot easier to reach level 25.

The game can also be a little difficult at times since the enemies deal a lot of damage. Once the blasts get through your shield, then it’s time to retreat for a while until they replenish. I died a few times through the story and it’s a nice change of pace to have some difficulty. It means that you’ll have to actually plan out your moves a bit instead of charging in and attacking all of the Decepticons.

The game got rid of the multiplayer fighting modes that we had in War For Cybertron and Escalation is all that’s left. (Online co-op story mode is around I suppose) Well, fighting against other players is certainly more fun, but I’ve always liked Escalation Mode so this is cool as well. There are 15 waves and you need to survive them all to secure a nice gold trophy. It was a little easy as my team beat the whole thing in my first try, but maybe they had already been playing for a while so they knew the ropes. I still managed 104 kills in the battle so I definitely contributed my part.

I haven’t gotten all of the trophies yet, but I’m about halfway and I can say that it seems fair enough. The multiplayer trophies aren’t as much of a grind as they were in War For Cybertron. I’ve already gotten just about all of them at this point. They all seem reasonable and a few of them merely involve finding collectibles or blowing up certain objects in a level. It will likely require you to play each level a few times, but that’s not much of a grind since you can accomplish with a few trophies at once as you go through the level. I’m definitely satisfied with these trophies.

The replay value in Transformers is strong thanks to the trophies, but the campaign mode is a little on the short side. It took around 7 hours to complete the 14 levels. Their were more levels than War For Cybertron, but they were also quicker so both games ended up being more or less equal as far as time is concerned. 10 levels is my minimum so with 14, Rise of The Dark Spark is clearly safe from being too short. The levels are pretty engaging and aside from the fact that you can’t skip cutscenes, going through them again shouldn’t feel like a drag. Another element for the replay value is the fact that you need to get all challenges, guns, fighters, and more. Obtaining all of that should take even the most serious gamers quite a bit of time.

The soundtrack is pretty good. There aren’t any really memorable tunes in it, but they’re all good while you’re battling against all of the cons. So, I would likely give it a 3/5. It’s a solid soundtrack, but nothing that you’ll write home about like Super Smash Bros. It’s just how it goes sometimes.

One thing that needs to be mentioned is the audio. It can be a little inconsistent which makes setting it up difficult. The narration is much lower than the sound effects and music, so I lowered those to hear the narration. The problem is that they all lower for cutscenes so I have to choose between too loud gameplay or soft cutscenes. I chose the latter, but the audio could have been a little better.

The graphics for the game are solid and the levels that really stood out for me were the ones in the movie timeline. I actually preferred them because what they lacked in tech, they made up for in scale. You’ve just got to love fighting other robots in such a large city and it’s a lot of fun. The gameplay is definitely the same, but I can safely say that the experience is much different in the movie levels than the game ones. Either way, the graphics are solid for both sections and you shouldn’t have any problem with it.

Surprisingly, I prefer most of the designs from the movie verse. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee simply look a lot more intense. They’re taller and more sleek in their builds. You can tell that they’re hand to hand combatants as the old versions are more boxy. Of course, you can’t top Starscream or Soundwave’s designs so both universes get their wins. The designs are all great in the long run and playing as any of the characters can be fun.

Overall, Rise of The Dark Spark is a great Transformers game and it can certainly hold its own against any of the others. The story was engaging and the game never felt as if it was dragging on. It may have been a little towards the short side, but there is a lot of replay value through the online escalation mode and getting all of the PS3 Trophies. The movie characters felt as if they got the shaft compared to the game ones, but they technically had around the same amount of levels. the game did freeze up twice, but I suppose that it would be hard not too with all of the action that was going on. The game has a pretty epic ending as a certain continuity gets involved, which makes things interesting. It would be awesome to see this character in a possible sequel. There’s no reason not to get this game and I’d say that there is every reason to purchase it right away. The gameplay is just about perfect and you won’t regret buying it. I highly recommend the game to all gamers!

Overall 8/10

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Volume 4 Review

Posted on June 20, 2014 by dreager1

This Transformers comic marathon has been pretty fun. Volume two helped to introduce a lot of plot lines and Volume 3 didn’t really advance the plot, but the story was pretty fun. Volume 4 continues the plot as we get a pretty big fight scene and things finally get dangerous for the heroes. This was definitely the best volume from the three that I just finished reading and we also get to see some of the popular Transformers through flashbacks.

The plot for this collection is pretty easy to describe since most of it is a big fight with Overlord. Before the fight, we get to see Overlord’s history and we also get a happy meanwhile where the heroes go to the bar. There is also the aftermath of the fight and that concludes the collection. That’s an epic way to build a trade paperback. Prelude, Fight, Aftermath. It’s a simple, but very effective formula that definitely works for this volume and it’s part of the reason as to why this is my favorite volume yet. Overlord gets a lot of hype before the fight as the heroes explain that since he’s a Six Changer, he’s far more powerful than Optimus Prime, Megatron, Metroplex, and many other famous Transformers. Part of the mystery in the volume is why all of these powerful Six CHangers are Decepticons. It can’t be a coincidence so they figure that the Decepticons are actually powering up fighters. They send Chromedome to look into Overlord’s mind and that’s when chaos ensues. For the record…this was a hush hush operation so most of the Autobots did not know about it. The reason why I like the hype is that it makes the story feel a little like the famous Doomsday arc in the Superman comics. It’s a pretty similar setting, but what if there was no Superman to fight him? Things would have gotten dire, but very interesting.

Rodimus Prime doesn’t look very good and that has been a trend in the latest volumes. He looks very weak in this volume and that would be a huge complaint if not for the fact that it seems to be a plot point that will be developing in the next issues. That doesn’t erase the fact that it’s disappointing to see Rodimus fare so poorly in battle. He doesn’t get any good hits on Overlord and he’s defeated almost instantly. As a Prime, Rodimus should be decently powerful or at least quick enough to do something that will help to tip the scales of battle. Rodimus may be the leader of this mission for now, but he’d better watch out if he wants it to stay that way. Especially with such an untrustworthy crew. Rodimus Prime was my favorite Transformers character back in the day. I can’t say that he still is, but Rodimus is still one of the better Transformers out there and I expect better from him.

Whirl is actually my favorite character of the series at the moment although he’s slowly changing. He’s still the crazy Autobot that we all know and love, but…is he really an Autobot? He does some pretty shady things in this volume and it almost appears as if he’s an inside man working for someone. The author will need to be careful how this situation is handled since it needs to be masterfully pulled off so that Whirl doesn’t become a lackey. I like Whirl because he calls the shots right now…and that’s how it should be. He doesn’t really get in on the action this time around, but I’m sure that he’ll be back.

Cyclonus is still around and he does much better than most of the Autobots. He fires from a distance and keeps his cool while a lot of the others are panicking. He wouldn’t have been able to last forever, but Cyclonus definitely put up a good amount of resistance and I can safely say that he’s more likable than the other two Decepticon flyers. (Thundercrack and Skywarp)

Metroplex may have went insane before, but now he’s ready to change his ways and help out the heroes. After all, he went insane because of Overlord so this is his chance to get some payback. I don’t believe that the fight would have any chance of turning out positively for Metroplex, but at least he can get another shot. Metroplex definitely does the best against Overlord and this makes sense since they are the current heavy hitters on the roster. It’s pretty hard to overlook Metroplex’s big personality 180, but at least he helped the heroes. It will be a while before I can think of him as a proper Autobot again though.

Overlord is the main villain of the trade and he really does a number on the Autobots. He takes on the full squadron of Rodimus, Metroplex, Ultra Magnus, Chromedome, Cyclonus, and many others at once. That’s a pretty huge feat and the heroes are really getting overwhelmed. I remembered how powerful Overlord was, but this is definitely a lot more drastic than you could have thought. I wonder how Optimus Prime would have fared against him. They claim that Prime and Megatron are weaker than the current Overlord, but those guys have a lot of determination and experience. A fight between them would be downright epic. Overlord does want his rematch with Megatron so maybe we’ll get to see it. Unfortunately, it could be a while. Overlord also takes the time to mock the heroes as he’s beating them up, which takes dedication and a lot of confidence. Overlord is definitely one of the best Transformers villain as this volume cemented that fact. Powerwise, there are few who can stop him.

Chromedome gets a large role, but I can’t say that he looks very good. He doesn’t tell the Autobots where he’s going and he allows Overlord to take control during their mind sessions. Chromedome is supposed to be an expert in this so that was pretty humiliating. He makes a gutsy call in the end, but I can’t blame him for it since the alternative would have been much worse. Was there any other way? It’s hard to see any at that point. Unfortunately, things just go south for the heroes sometimes and they have to weather it. We’ll see what Chromedome decides as he’s about to make a big decision. Hopefully he goes two for two and makes the correct choice again. Chromedome may have been the leader in one of the Transformer shows, but unfortunately he’s pretty weak in the power department.

Ultra Magnus does better than most of the other Autobots during the Overlord attack. He was definitely pretty brave and I’m glad that he finally got to have his match. Things were pretty dangerous for him earlier because of a spiked drink, but everything turned out for the best…or did they? Either way, Ultra Magnus continues to be one of the better Autobots.

Drift doesn’t get a huge role, but something big does happen to him. I have to say that I was disappointed by how weak he looked in the fight against Overlord. He talked very big right up until the battle actually started. (Ratchet was also there and he also talked very tough and was promptly taken down. At least we know that the Autobots are courageous, but I would have preferred if they could have fought with something else besides empty words) Couldn’t he have shown a little more dignity or at least have gotten in one good slash? Ah well, we’ll see how things fare for him when Drift returns. His status as a main character may have just changed.

Rewind actually gets a critical role in this volume. Rewind is one of those robots that I never really remembered after each volume and I can barely even picture how he looks right now. Either way, Rewind did what he had to do and he made the hero call. It took guts and bravery, but he did what was necessary. I still wouldn’t say that he was one of the better characters, but now I will remember him as a hero.

Megatron only appears in flashbacks, but we get to see just how tough he is. It’s nothing new of course since we all figured that Megatron was one of the toughest Transformers. He basically beats up Overlord twice and is also the one who powered him up. Megatron is definitely a very confident robot. That’s for sure. I can’t wait until Megatron and Optimus Prime finally get to appear in the present, but that could be a while.

The art is a little more cartoony for parts of this volume. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I would say that it is a step down from the last two volumes. For almost any other series it would be good, but it’s slightly under average for More Than Meets The Eye. Luckily, this doesn’t wreck the fight and it’s still nicely done. I’m going to miss the old art style, but this one definitely has its moments and it won’t be a big drop from the usual art so score wise it should not affect the comic in any noticeable way.

Now, one may wonder what’s happening to the knights subplot. Well, it’s taking a very long time, but hopefully it will show up at some point. I didn’t really mind because I was just happy to see such a big fight. The tone for the comics is mostly on the sad side while mixing it up with light and dark comics. The transformers are always having fun until the next tragedy strikes. Because of that, it manages to pull off the dark and light aspects without leaning too heavily towards one side as earlier. I was fine with Overlord beating up all of the Autobots except that Drift and Rodimus should have put up a better fight. I don’t see them going down quite so easily.

As for big shot characters, we finally get closer to seeing them all. Starscream and Soundwave are featured in flashbacks aside from Megatron whom I already mentioned. Both of their roles were pretty sound and I hope that they get to appear in present time at some point. The heroes can’t stay in space forever can they? The quest will end at some point and then things will get interesting.

Overall, what’s not to like in this volume? The whole thing is basically a big fight and I’ve been waiting a long time to see such a big clash of fighters. What helps is that most of the characters are decently likable. Ultra Magnus, (He even gets a whole montage of his many defeats!) Rodimus, Chromedome, Ratchet, etc. They may not be the greatest of characters at times, but they’re still enjoyable to watch for the most part. There are some moments where the action can get pretty intense, but if you made it through volume 2 then you should be okay. It is technically energon that falls out of them I believe so you don’t need to worry about that part. For a kid I’d show them the original Transformers movie instead and for all other Transformers fans you’ll love this volume. We haven’t gotten this much action in a very long time. There’s a lot to look forward to in the next volume as we get to see what will happen to Prowl, Ultra Magnus, and Chromedome. Things will definitely be shaken up as the clock continues to turn.

Overall 7/10

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Volume 3 Review

Posted on June 18, 2014 by dreager1

The Transformers saga continues in this volume! The last one may not have been as impressive as I had been expecting, but this one is back up to par. Ironically, the plot is slightly less interesting because most of it is a story, but you can’t win every battle I suppose.

This collection brings an annual and then we have three regular comics, which split into the current time and a story that the Autobots are talking about. The annual shows the Autbots as they look for an old colony of tough fighters who helped to make Drift into the person that he is today. Unfortunately, they are gone and a galactic peace keeping association want to take the Transformers down once and for all. They won’t be able to debate their way out of this one, but can Ultra Magnus bring himself to take down these law abiding aliens?

Also, there seems to possibly be a traitor afoot as Rodimus finds an Autobot in a vat of oil. This couldn’t have been an accident and it smells like a Decepticon attack. Rodimus is going to need to get to the bottom of this right away. Meanwhile, there is an Autobot who is basically in a coma so the others decide to tell him a story since it might cause his brain functions to start up again. They speak of a tale from millions of years ago that could actually be true. Optimus Prime is in it along with Prowl. It was good to see some of the old faces again.

Optimus Prime is pretty much as epic as usual. He’s in his Orion Pax form, but in this contiunity that really doesn’t affect his character. He’s still the Optimus Prime that we’ve come to know and root for. Pax definitely does a lot of damage to the villains and his ethics are still in place. He may put a little too much trust into his pal, but it happens to the best of them. Prime may only appear in the story, but that will have to do until he returns for real.

Drift is pretty cool as per usual, although he seemed to be a little out of character in the comic. Knocking away the other Autobots when they began to insult him was going a little too far. It’s possible that he is finally losing it or maybe it was just a one time thing. Aside from that moment, Drift is still someone that you can root for and it’s nice to see his swordsmanship in action.

I was more than a little iffy of Rodimus Prime’s role in this comic. At first, he definitely lost his way and I was pretty worried. Was the hero that I had once known starting to forget his morals? Luckily, the selfless decision of another Autobot causes him to rethink his decision and make the correct choice. I’m glad about that and hopefully this will help Rosimus for future issues. After all, he used to be my favorite Autobot for a while. I’m hoping that he can continue to look good and keep hold of his heroism amidst a world of dark deceptions.

Ultra Magnus gets a decently big role in the first comic. Initially, the heroes force him to grin so that they can wipe out some really small villains, but things get a little more serious when the Galactic Peace Federation guys arrive. Ultra Magnus is the only one who really understands the law and he does well in his counters. The villains try to recruit him, but Magnus is an Autobot through and through. He’s definitely a pretty likable guy.

Chromedome is a main character in this collection since he’s the guy who is teaming up with Prowl in the story. He’s surprisingly smart and he does well during the investigation. I was expecting more of a Sherlock and Watson situation. He was decent in Headmasters and I’d say the same for this comic. There’s no real reason to dislike him, but there’s nothing about Chromedome that makes him stand out. He’s an average fighter and he’s basically an average Autobot.

Prowl was pretty cool in the comic. His design is a little too similar to Drift’s, but his personality helps to separate them. He’s very smart, but he doesn’t seem to understand how corrupt the government is. He goes off on his own and it would seem that he never showed up again. A pretty abrupt end to a fun character. He may not have been the best fighter, but he was a good guy to have around in a mystery.

Of course, the main problem that I have with this volume is the fact that it’s basically filler. The annual wasn’t really relevant and the story about the good ole days was decent, but nothing really came of it. I do applaud the final twist at the end due to how shocking and intense it is. It’s a twist that is ultimately fillerish, but having some extra back story can be a good thing I suppose. I’m expecting the plot to unfold a little more in the next volume. We really need some story progression because not much has really happened since the first volume if you think about it.

The artwork is still very good and it’s what I have come to expect from the series. We don’t have a lot of fight scenes in this volume, but the art even helps the brief skirmishes that we get. Optimus Prime’s ground slam on one of the villains was pretty epic. Narration is also benefited by the art because it makes reading the text bubbles a lot easier since the drawings in the background are so crisp. Hopefully the art will stay this good for future volumes.

Overall, this was a pretty good Transformers comic. The stakes were definitely a lot lower than usual and the plot didn’t really move, but maybe it was good for a change of pace. This collection was definitely a lot lighter than the last one and it made for a fun read. It’s not quite as interesting, but it’s interesting enough to keep you entertained. Thanks in part to the art and the characters who are participating in the action. I would recommend reading the first two volumes before this one even if most of the issues are a story of the past. It’s just more enjoyable if you know who the story tellers are and why they’re even here. Whirl gets to appear, but it’s a very small role which is why he didn’t get his own paragraph earlier. I definitely recommend this to all comic readers!

Overall 7/10

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Volume 2 Review

Posted on June 14, 2014 by dreager1

Volume 2 continues the saga as many more plots are unveiled. Transformers is as huge as it ever was with a big film coming out and all of these comics that have popped up. Not to mention that they still have the ongoing Rescue Bots TV show and another one coming soon. This comic series takes place after the legendary Autobot vs Decepticon war finally ended and we get to see how Rodimus’ group is handling things. This comic would have been really fun except it really jumps from one tone to the next. It can be really happy and then become very dark in an instant. This didn’t work for More Than Meets The Eye.

The plot is a little tricky because of all the various plots that are lying around. This volume brought 5 comics and I shall try to mention most of the big plots since each issue usually focuses on one in particular. In one of the comics; Ratchet is worried because his hands aren’t working as well as they used to. Then he gets a message from an Autobot area so he goes with a few other robots to see what’s happening. It turns out that a plague is infecting all of the residents there, but it must have been deliberately started. Who would do such a thing!? Meanwhile, a lot of robots are on the run from the Decepticon Justice Division. They like to hunt down Decepticons that turned their back on the cause or are just deemed unworthy. A group of Decepticon survivers known as the Scavengers have been doing all right on their own. They haven’t heard that the war is over and they have no idea who won. So, they are playing it safe and are prepared to make the journey home. That is….if they can survive an encounter with the DJD!

Back on the ship; an old Autobot legend suffers from a big breakdown and he decides to take it over. He takes two Autobots hostage and tells Rodimus to take them back to Cybertron. Rodimus doesn’t want to do this since he needs to find those legendary knights already. He may have to make the toughest decision yet, but he’ll need to be careful because the hostages aren’t very durable. Elsewhere, one Autobot decides to open a bar, which could bring trouble at some point. There’s also an Autobot who wants to be a Decepticon so Rodimus and Ultra Magnus would like a few words with him. Cyclonus also appears briefly and he definitely doesn’t seem trust worthy.

I have to say that Drift is easily the best Autobot in this comic and one of the best overall. His sword techniques are swift and he continues to prove that he’s one of their best fighters. I would have liked for him to have gotten a bigger role, but it’s good enough as a starting point. There aren’t many Transformers who use swords so it’s always a good change of pace. In a way, Drift keeps the Autobots from losing their place in the grand scheme of things.

Rodimus Prime gets a pretty small role, but he is still the leader so I’m sure that he’ll get some props. He handled the Autobot pretty well when they speak about him changing sides. Rodimus’ strategy for freeing the hostages was a little on the dicey side and he doesn’t mind destroying comrades who’ve lost it so I can’t say that he’s as compassionate as Optimus. That being said; few are at this point. All of the Transformers are willing to win at any price and if Optimus were still around; there’s a chance that he would be like that as well. They haven’t been on Earth in a while; which could have helped them to lose their compassion.

Ultra Magnus gets a decent role and he’s not a bad guy. He’s pretty serious about the rules, but Ultra Magnus was being pretty considerate about it. I would probably like him to do some more fighting at some point, but there hasn’t been much action for the main squad. Perhaps in the next volume.

Whirl is also one of the more likable Autobots in this volume. He definitely doesn’t get one of the happier situations, but he takes it in stride for the most part. He’s constantly talking back to his oppressor and he never gives in. It would have been nice to see him get more of a fair fight, but the important thing is that he tried. Whirl’s design is also pretty fun and I can’t say that I recognize him from any other Transformers media that I’ve encountered. Well, it’s good to meet a new Transformer!

I’m not going to address the Autobot who goes crazy by name for obvious spoiler reasons, but he still gets a pretty big role so I felt that he deserved his own paragraph. It was pretty surprising to see how much this guy has changed, but it’s just another reminder of how dark the times have gotten for the heroes. It feels like almost everyone has been traumatized by some sort of event or are just being super cheerful to pretend that none of it is happening. I can’t say that this comic will help me gain any respect for this Autobot and I’m just glad that he has appeared a lot in other media so that I can still like him in the long run.

Ratchet is one of the few main characters that I really know from the TV shows. He’s always had a big role so it’s good to see that he’s still got it. He’s starting to feel his age and it makes sense since Ratchet is one of the originals. Soon, he may need to pass on the medical torch to someone else. At least he does pretty well for himself in this comic. He’ll never be one of my favorites, but he’s a good character and that’s good enough for me.

As the volume cover insinuates; this is a pretty dark time for the Transformers and the villains get to call a lot of the shots. That’s where the comic drove itself down a few pegs. The dark tone of the comic may not be out of place in itself, but it goes way too far. If all of the deeds were happening to humans instead of robots; the rating would likely be lower. There is basically one torture per chapter. It just keeps on happening. Autobots or Decepticons are isolated and then they have to endure this for long periods of time until they’re put out of their misery. A group of Decepticons messed with one guy for ages as they melted him; ate him; and then started blasting him.

It’s not something that you really need to see in a comic; especially over and over and over again. If I’ve said it once then I’ve said it many times, but comics, shows, movies, and games are for fun and escapism. Dark or Light themes work, but not something to unnecessarily drastic. It’s not fun to see the villains get away with so much and it’s easy worse when a “hero” does it. (Hange) They may be robots, but they apparently still have pain sensors and they seem to have a lot of energon to spill out. Transformers has gotten more gritty over the years and even Transformers 3 is an example of this. It makes you miss the good ole G1 days. Grimlock’s situation is also pretty sad, but it’s not terrible if you’ve only read this comic. Seeing how it happened would likely be another story.

It’s a shame because the actual plots are very interesting. It’s impressive to see the author juggle so many characters across various planets. It’s part of why the Transformers Multiverse has always been so interesting. There are always more characters to read about and the adventures never end. This series may be trying to be modern and appeal to a new crowd, but it just needs to find its roots and go back to the glory days.

The art is very good for this collection and I would say that it’s far better than any art that I’ve seen in recent comics. All of the character designs are spot on the backgrounds have a lot of detail. This volume may have its weaknesses, but artwork is definitely not one of them. From fight scenes to conversations; the art only helps to enhance the comic and make it more enjoyable. Art will always be a critical factor in a comic.

Overall, More Than Meets the Eye may have seemed like a decently cheerful series in the last volume, but it’s done a complete 180. Without popular characters like Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumble Bee, Soundwave, Starscream, Wheeljack, and others; it’s up to the next generation characters to hold up the fort. Most of them are pretty good so that isn’t a problem, but I expect the Autobots to start fighting back in the next volume. They need to stop all of this senseless destruction from happening and create the peace that they’ve been fighting for. Volume 3 needs to lighten up on the tone a bit and get back to the fun action that the franchise is known for. I’m confident that it will step things up. Aside from the excessive violence; this comic was still pretty fun and its interesting to see where all of the plots will end up. This is definitely something that most Transformers fans will want to read since you will be missing out on a lot of plots if you skip it. That being said; if you don’t like to see the Transformers go through a lot of pain; then you may want to stick with the main Regeneration series (Light hearted for now anyway) or take a chance on the next volume. It appears to be a dark hour for both sides of Transformers so I don’t know how the author plans to help them get out of this hole. The legendary knights may be needed after all.

Overall 5/10

Transformers vs GI Joe Review

Posted on June 13, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for another one of the Free comics from this year’s event. This comic is the start of a whole new series where these two popular franchises will duke it out. Since it is the first issue; we don’t get to see them fight all that much, but it is the set up. It also serves as an alternate retelling for both sides so that the continuity fit. Unfortunately, the art and character personalities take the comic down a few notches.

The plot involves the Joes as they are taking down a Cobra base and thoroughly enjoying it. None of them are actually taking it seriously, but Cobra is still pretty confident since things are going according to plan. The plan changes a little because Bumblebee and Starscream are duking it out. The Decepticon has a pretty huge advantage and explosions ripple across the area. Will the Joes be able to finish off Cobra Commander and still have enough energy left to take on a Decepticon?

The plot itself is decent, but the dialogue can be a little painful. Duke and Snake Eyes spend most of their screen time flirting with Scarlet. It’s sad enough that such an epic commander like Duke would be doing this while on a mission of life and death, but Snake Eyes? Snake Eyes is supposed to be the quiet and tough ninja that does what must be done. Not only does he ditch the mask, but Snake Eyes talks a lot. He makes many puns and jokes while showing off the fact that he’s not as professional as he used to be. Snake Eyes gets a lot of hype for his reasoning skills, but then he throws an ordinary grenade at a huge robot. I don’t believe that this was a very smart move.

The ending is pretty sad for the heroes. Bumblebee has a pretty sad fate in store for him and the Joes have a man down. Hopefully, Duke will bounce back from this and look good again. That way, the rest of the Joes can follow suit. The first issue is supposed to make you want to pick up the series, but I can’t say that this one did anything for me. It just wasn’t that fun to read.

The artwork is pretty bad and at times it feels as if it’s a fan comic. I really have to say that the art is some of the most underwhelming that I have seen in ages and the bandages scene was particularly hard to look at. I actually had to make sure that this was the official comic as I was reading it. Art is something that can really help a comic if done right and these drawings just bring the issue down.

Overall, Transformers vs GI Joe may have just been called GI Joe: Attack on Cobra! The Transformers cross paths with the Joes for a second, but they’re mainly involved in completely different plots. Naturally, this is because it’s only the first issue, but it doesn’t change the fact that we didn’t get a whole lot of interaction. I wouldn’t pick up the next issues based on this one and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to the casual reader. Start off with the Transformers and New Avengers crossover instead.

Overall 5/10

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