“Well he is the head of intelligence, and he’s generally considered quite clever.”
“I generally consider most Cybertronians incapable of distinguishing amoral self-interest from cleverness.
…oh, don’t look at me like that…”
Keep reading for a review of Transformers #12 (2019).
(Mild spoilers below, I won’t give away the ending, but there’s a few plot points in this issue that are more fun if you’re surprised by them, so you might want to read the issue first if you haven’t already.)
Taking place just before issue 10, this was easily one of my favorite issues in a while. It’s kind of a one-shot that establishes a lot of important points (how Cybertronians interact with aliens in this continuity, how Nautica feels about Cybertron, and more of Sentinel Prime being an unsubtle, blunt-force kind of leader) while at the same time being a really fun, Mission Impossible type of adventure. There’s witty remarks, espionage, a puzzle to figure out, and some actual high-stakes danger. I enjoyed the heck out of it.
I loved all the details sprinkled throughout the issue, things like a quick write-up of organic aliens for the Xenorelations people, a complaint about how switching comm systems from external to internal microphones is really disorienting, a rant about artificially created inorganic consciousnesses (semi-intelligent slave droids) and how completely disgusting they are to Cybertronians. There was a lot of world-building going on this issue, but it never felt like an info-dump.
And we finally got to meet Nautica in this new continuity, in her element, being a hyper-intelligent badass. In addition to being frighteningly smart, I also liked how wistful she was, remembering all the amazing places she’s been, the aliens she’s talked to, and how she stopped missing Cybertron a long time ago.
Her dynamic with her bodyguard Road Rage was very fun: they’re obviously comfortable with each other, and there’s a lot of good-natured sarcasm between them, but in a crunch it’s very professional. Nautica’s in charge, but Road Rage will pull rank as the bodyguard if the situation gets dangerous.
(Minor spoilers here!) Road Rage is a nice pull on the part of Brian Ruckley. I wasn’t familiar with the character (bad TF fan, no cookie!) so I had a nice surprise at the end when I found out she’s female. I’m betting the intentional omission of pronouns up till the end was a deliberate choice; if you didn’t already know she’s female, finding it out makes you blink, and then go back through the issue to look at her with new eyes. I get a kick out of it when authors do that.
I’d also assumed for a second that maybe this was a ret-con of a male character (again, my lack of knowledge of the Japanese cartoons and Wings universe is showing) but nope, she’s always been female. I like that they kept true to the original toy design, which didn’t have really overt female characteristics either. You could also say it was making a nod to the idea that gender expression doesn’t have to conform to traditional norms, which would be cool, but I’m just inferring that on my own.
Speaking of things I might be inferring when they weren’t really implied, Nautica goes off on a tangent at one point about the Thraal embassy making frequent requests for the Cybertronians to drive the A’ovans off the planet so the Thraal can kill them. The embassy doesn’t really care one way or another, but “they do it to appease the vocal minority who care very much.” She muses about some people having genocide as a cultural imperative, and how astonishing “organic minds” can be.
Brian Ruckley may have been talking about something else other than the current political environment, but I doubt it.
I’ve really enjoyed all the artists who’ve worked on this new continuity of Transformers, so I don’t want to downplay their work when I say I was totally delighted to get a whole issue of Sara Pitre-Durocher’s work, with Joana Lafuente’s excellent colors. Everybody looked amazing!
It was so cool to see her draw Starscream again (Starscream, you sexy little weasel, you) and you know how I love to nitpick over people’s faces, so when I say everybody’s expressions were gorgeous that means a lot. Little things like Nautica’s face when she’s looking sideways as she says “Quite so. A discussion for another time, though.” Or Road Rage’s frustrated grimace after she unsuccessfully tries to grab something. Or Starscreams snarky face when he says “The Thraal are quite capable in terms of –.” I loved all the expressions, all of them! (Not to mention the figures, poses, action, and backgrounds. But for me it’s all about the faces.)
And we had a beautiful cover by Alex Milne, and he’s doing the art next issue! Except we have to wait a whole 30 days, now that the series has gone monthly, boo. But before then we’ll have the first issue of Transformers: Galaxies, yay!