General Information:
Synopsis: Elsewhere in Trypticon, a lone figure destroys two Decepticon drones and sneaks its way off of the Decepticon ship Starscream arrived in. It's Arcee and we see through flashbacks that she survived her encounter with Starscream and managed to grab onto the ship's landing gear before it teleported. She knows her mission isn't over and races off to seek out some of the Autobots remaining on Cybertron to help her before it's too late. At the construction site, Starscream arrives along with Dreadwing and Thundercracker. Payload arrives shortly afterwards with Crankcase and some drones following behind. Signal Flare and Elita One try to appeal to Starscream for mercy but he is not going to spare anyone. When Crankcase shows some attitude, he disables his vocal circuitry and adds him to the group of soon-to-be victims! Meanwhile, Arcee has arrived at a former Autobot training base, now one of the last sites left for Autobots to hide. There she finds Clocker who takes her inside. A small group of Autobots is hiding there including Crosshairs, Wingblade, Breakaway and Skyblast. The small group is planning to rescue their captured comrades and Arcee is ready to lead the charge. At the site of the new Allspark, construction is complete! Starscream and his Seekers arrive and he finds himself growing more anxious. For a moment he wonders if he has become like Optimus Prime and Megatron, obsessed with a singular goal. He dismisses this however and focuses on facts: he is leader, he has the Allspark and he feels nothing can stop him. Nearby, the Autobots have gathered and race to the scene. When they arrive, they are shocked by what they see. The Decepticons are gathered at the base of the cube where their comrades and Crankcase have been strapped to the sides. Has Starscream won?
Story: Just as with earlier issues, it is cool to see characters who may not have appeared in other Movie based media other than action figures getting their due. Seeing the likes of Grindcore, Warpath, Breakaway and Wingblade adds a layer of depth to the story. It helps us see who it was that stayed behind on Cybertron when Optimus left, and it also gives some characters whose toys were all redecos (some store exclusives) a chance to shine in the spotlight. The story element of having them hiding away in an old Autobot base is hardly new, but it really did bring me back to the G1 Marvel Comics days when fans were brought "back" to Cybertron to find the Decepticons largely in control and the Autobots hiding out underground. I have a special love for those issues and this one echoed those issues sufficiently for me to really enjoy another iteration of the "Underground" Autobot movement. Artwork: Artwise, the highlight of this issue is the introduction of several new characters being shown in their "Cybertronian" forms. As I mentioned in past reviews, Alex Milne has a fantastic talent for taking characters who were largely based on redecos of figures from lines like "Cybertron" and redesigning them to fit the movie aesthetic. He adds sleek and complicated line designs, extra armor bits here and there along with Cybertronian glyphs in close up panels adding up to some distinctive looking robots. I would say my favorite design is Crosshairs. Despite his figure being a Scout Class he is drawn as a larger, bulkier character giving him a powerful appearance that befits a character wielding an axe as a weapon. On another note, kudos to Milne for going through what must be a relatively long process of drawing all the symbols on the Allspark cube. That can't be a quick bit of art! I also have to give high kudos to the coloring by Josh Burcham. There are several types of lighting throughout this issue, from the daylight shots of Arcee going to the Autobot base to the dimly lit command center inside the base. Each of these is very distinct, changing the tone of entire pages beautifully. I confess I'm also glad that characters are colored distinctively as well. Despite the excellent pencil work, some of the characters use sculpts that were used on more than one character such as Skyblast and Air Raid and it helps to see the differences between the two in color.
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