It’s the final issue of the Unicron saga, and I was going to say “it’s the end of an era” but we’re not quite there yet: Optimus Prime #25 comes out next week and will finish up the IDW Transformers books. I think I would’ve liked the Unicron book to be the final chapter in this universe, but I guess there’s still a little more left to say.
Fair warning, I’m going to spoil everything in this issue: I tried a review that left out spoilers and was left with “So. Stuff happened. AND THEN EXPLOSIONS.”
Yeah, faith. The last refuge of those left behind.
There was a lot going on this issue, but some plot points went over my head due to my having skipped the G.I. Joe books, some of the Optimus Prime issues, and most of Revolution. (All books that I’m sure were wonderful, they just had a lot of humans and Hasbro properties I’ve never followed.) Rather than do a recap, let’s just talk first about who we lost.
(Seriously SPOILERS AHOY!)
Ironhide. I was glad he got a better ending than Kup. (Who I still maintain went out like a chump.) It wouldn’t be a series-ending issue without losing one of the good guys. I would’ve wished he had gotten killed saving a helpless innocent from a major bad guy, instead of getting stabbed by a minion I didn’t recognize, but he went out in battle, and in the end he seemed at peace. Which is more than I can say for Kup. (LIKE A CHUMP.)
Soundwave. As one of my favorite Transformers, I’m glad he had such a major part in saving everyone, and the fact that he believed giving his life was part of his absolution, I was happy for him. I only wished we could’ve seen the reaction from Rumble and Frenzy. Like many fans of Soundwave and the tapes, I’m obsessed with their relationship: it never seemed like master and minions, I always thought it seemed like an intensely loyal family. When Ravage died we saw Soundwave mourn, I wonder how Rumble and Frenzy felt.
Starscream. Starscream. Who went out like a hero. Well, there was kind of a smirk and a shrug to his ending too, a little bit of “hell with it, this’ll show them.” After Till All Are One I sort of hoped that he’d turn into this quiet, noble bot in the end. To be honest, his death here is way more realistic. And I loved his last words.
And of course, Optimus. (Though we didn’t see a body, so all bets are off.) It makes sense that he’d sacrifice himself in the end, he’s the tragic hero that we almost want to see die a heroic death, that’s who he is. But knowing that we’ve still got one more issue of Optimus Prime, that takes the sting out of it a little. I think he’s still dead, but he’s also got a few more things he needs to do.
And who didn’t we lose? Arcee and Alieron, thank goodness. (When they found each other a few issues ago I really thought we were getting set up for an angsty death, I’m glad I was wrong.) Windblade as well (with the IDW franchise rebooting I was afraid they might use this as an opportunity to get rid of non-legacy characters.) And also? Thundercracker. AND Buster. Woo! Thank you thank you, John Barber and all the powers that be, I did not want to see that goofy Seeker and his dog die. Whew.
Random things I didn’t like: Marissa sitting out the entire fight (I’m glad she looked after Buster, and it’s not like I’m a huge fan of the humans in general, but she’s been a major character so long I would’ve thought she could’ve done, I don’t know, something?) Also Optimus going face-plate-less for the whole issue. (It’s neat to see his face now and then, but I’ve said it before: his face IS his faceplate, as far as I’m concerned.)
Also the fact that the solution to the whole problem made very little sense to me: there’s a whole page talking about the communication deck attached to the stardrive attached to the Enigma of Combination attached to the broken source code of the Earth and you lost me. This, however, is no one’s fault but my own. I’m one hundred percent sure if I’d read every book in Revolution and Optimus (and remembered more of Dark Cybertron) I would have picked up all the pieces they were putting down. As is I just nodded and said “they saved the day with science and love, Till All Are One,” and moved on.
Random things I loved: Metroplex throwing shade at Blackrock about his height. Thundercracker dropping everything to save his brother. Arcee calling Skywarp a manifold clamp (I know very little about engine repair but I think that’s part of the exhaust so I’m pretty sure she just called him an asshole.) Prowl cutting through Shockwave’s tired ranting about Optimus with a “Maybe he got tired of listening to you.” The image of all the sparks who went before. The fact that Slide, who’s been mourning her partner for months, would only find salvation in bonding with the Torchbearers, who were mourning one of theirs. And Talon telling Spike to just shut up already.
And, obviously, I loved the art. Alex Milne will be my favorite Transformers artist from now until forever after all his work on More Than Meets The Eye, and he did an amazing job with the sheer chaos in this book: mind-bogglingly complex battle scenes followed by beautiful expressions and perfect faces. But we also had Sara Pitre-Durocher (I’m still missing Till All Are One) Andrew Griffith, and Kei Zama, and beautiful colors from beginning to end by David Garcia Cruz and Joana Lafuente. (I’m following Joana Lafuente wherever she goes from here, just saying.)
(Someone help me out here, around 30 pages in, when Sky Lynx appears, is that Andrew Griffith or Kei Zama’s work? Because Windblade and the Torchbearers looked awesome.)
All in all it was as explosive and dramatic a conclusion as you could hope for in the end of an era (one last Optimus book notwithstanding, which I’m predicting will be a quiet, satisfying epilogue.) Any “faults” were minor, and a lot of the things I didn’t like were the ways the story in the book didn’t line up exactly with my own mental fan fiction. I know, the nerve of them, right?
