Windblade #6.
Anyone that knows anything about me would rightly guess that I've been looking forward to seeing the inside of this Issue for a while now. When the cover first came out, I was really excited to see Tigatron tearing through an Autobot logo.
But then the preview hit the net, and between the use of Manta Ray and the artwork style, I was suddenly not as gushing in my excitement. But nonetheless, I trundled down to pick up a copy of it today.
Spoilers, obviously, as I work my way through the Issue.
Firstly, two of the 3 Covers are magic. The aforementioned Tigatron (subscription) cover is very nice, as is Priscilla's regular cover with the setting sun. The retailer incentive cover, however, is a waste of ink. But the most troubling thing for me is that none of the covers have any relevance to the story held within the 20 pages.
I say 20 pages because the first two pages are wasted with a recap of last month's Issue, as well as a needless roll-call which has no bearing on the story.
Opening on Eukaris, Airazor's (simplified) design is an enjoyable homage to the original. Tigatron's Transmetal-inspired body isn't as welcome. This is the beast-planet after all -- give us some fur. But then there's Animated Blackarachnia, which is just a great disappointment. Where's the original?!
Tigatron's dialogue is a little off for me here. He calls Airazor "my love" and then tells her to "fear not". These lines are more reminiscent of Silverbolt in my mind.
A spider that sees the future doesn't know why Tigatron and Airazor have arrived?
Time jumps around for the first half of the Issue. This is annoying.
The artwork doesn't improve as we stand around in the sun. The inclusion of Sonar is nice, but I don't see why Claw Jaw was overlooked for a piece of cheap McDonald's merchandise. Given the scope of the part during the Issue, it really could have been anyone. Ms. Scott has said the reason for Manta Ray's inclusion was for a larger female contingent in the Issue, to show that females existed in equal number on Eukaris. Personally, I think that was communicated well enough with Airazor, Blackarachnia and Sonar.
And then, on Page 6, Rattrap jumps through a Space Bridge that has the same colour as the sky, as if the thing doesn't need to power-up at all. Hm. Keep an eye out for Cheetor being on Dinobot's far left for two panels, then all of a sudden is directly on his right. Then there's Rattrap on Page 7. So we're not even drawing characters anymore? They're just blobs? And what's with this use of random question marks above characters heads? I'm not a fan.
Then we're back on Cybertron, with a similarly colour-fading backdrop, and being introduced to a new breed of Transformers from Devisiun. This is probably the only time this whole planet will be given in this miniseries. At least we're back into the present in the timeline.
We're back on Eukaris, and then a mountain explodes. It's a Metrotitan in the shape of a giant bird, who apparently brought the beast-bots to Eukaris all those millennia before. But then it attacks for no good reason. Windblade tries to talk to it, then Starscream shoots it in the brain and kills it.
Instead of being outraged that their ancient conveyance and protector has been killed, the bots of Eukaris seem pleased. Um, what?
The End.
So, this was an abomination of a story. Two pages are wasted at the start, then the end is rushed as we kill a giant bot with a single shot (by Starscream no less, who was seen to survive being blown in half by Megatron in Infiltration all those years ago. Consistent).
Airazor and Tigatron are called emissaries instead of delegates. Wink wink. Uh.
Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting from this Issue, but this wasn't it. I'll read some others' thoughts on the whole thing, try to find some positives and get back to you.
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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
