Nice to see our head of intelligence didn’t misplace his charm amongst the stars.
I’d so miss his wit.
Keep reading for a review of Transformers #11 (2019).
(Warning, spoilers below, I couldn’t figure out how to discuss the plot points without actually discussing the plot points, so I’m giving away the farm today.)
I think the most important takeaway this issue is that Starscream is back! What a guy. What a smarmy little toad. I loved him and wanted to smack him all in the same page. Nice to know some things never change.
He’s technically on the side of the angels, for now, since he’s part of Sentinel Prime’s team, but we all know eventually he’ll jump over to Megatron’s side. I’m curious to see how that happens. Certainly Megatron will like having him on board (…for a while anyway…) because currently his top two enforcers, Soundwave and Shockwave, are a little too independent for his tastes.
If I understand right, Megatron set up Shockwave as the leader of the Rise, and the Rise is there just to make the Ascenticons look like a better choice. Problem is Shockwave is too enthusiastic, and his tactics are starting to make people panicky and unpredictable. (Megatron likes people scared, but not so scared that he can’t control them.)
Then you’ve got Soundwave, who stood up to Prowl last issue by not letting him interrogate Barricade. And Megatron found out that Barricade knows way too much, and could possibly lead Prowl to Shockwave, and then to Quake, who Shockwave had kill that Voin five or six issues back, and who killed Bumblebee’s prodigy Rubble too. This is a problem, because supposedly Quake had renounced involvement in the Rise and answered only to Megatron. If Prowl connects the dots, everyone will know that Megatron is behind the Rise. (Though, seriously, does anyone doubt that? Anyone? I know we as the reader have more information than anyone else, but it’s like there’s a neon sign over Megatron saying “I’M COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS COME AT ME BRO.”)
So Megatron could use a good toady, because Shockwave and Soundwave don’t even have the good grace to cower when Megatron throws furniture around. Starscream may be a twerp, but I’m looking forward to seeing him as Megatron’s twerp.
Meanwhile we finally find out why Bumblebee has been so icy towards Optimus lately. I thought it was related to him being thrown out of security, and it is, kind of. Bumblebee joined the Ascenticons because Optimus asked him to, so he could be the Autobots’ man on the inside. So I’m thinking Bumblebee was originally distant to Optimus as part of his act, to fake a little distance so the Ascenticons would be more likely to take him in. But now that distance is real, because Bumblebee was with the Ascenticons when Rubble was killed. If he’d been with his prodigy, maybe Rubble would still be alive.
I think we know Bumblebee will forgive Optimus eventually, but it’s not happening any time soon.
Megatron finally decides that if the situation is escalating, the best thing to do is to escalate it even further on your own terms. (I’m not sure I agree with that, but I see the logic.) I thought for one second that we were finally going to get that name change, but not yet. We do see the creation of the Decepticon symbol, even if they’re not calling it that, and I feel like I should’ve seen before now how much the Ascenticon symbol looked like an upside down Decepticon one, I really wasn’t paying attention there.
Meanwhile meanwhile, Windblade is still floating in a bacta tank. I’m hoping it’s so she can have one hell of a dramatic entrance at just the right moment. (I’m picturing a surprised Ascenticon looking down the point of a sword while a furious, soaking wet Windblade holds herself up in a doorway…I may have to go do some fan art now, unless someone beats me to it…)
Speaking of art, Angel and Hernandez and Anna Malkova had the art this issue, and I can’t think of anything to say about their art that I haven’t said in the previous ten reviews, except that I liked all of it. Anna’s expressions are closer to the animated style, while Angel’s are more realistically robotic, and it’s hard to choose between them. Anna’s Starscream looks good (Sara Pitre-Durocher’s will always be my favorite, but Anna’s doing well by him) and I look forward to Angel’s interpretation. And Soundwave looks amazing no matter who’s drawing him, but he’s my favorite, so I like seeing him in any situation.
I’m sure you heard this already, but this series is going monthly instead of bi-monthly, or twice a month…I never know if bi-monthly means twice a month or once every two months…where was I? Oh yes, we’re back to it being a monthly series. I hope this gives the artists and writers a break (and possibly causes the plot to move a little faster; I appreciate the care they’re taking with the story but I think the pace could pick up just a little.) And we’ve got the Galaxies series coming out soon so there’ll still be at least two issues a month to recap.