“We won’t hurt you. You don’t even have to let us out.” (Wasn’t planning on it.)
Keep reading for a review of Transformers: Galaxies #8.
(Warning, some spoilers below.)
It’s not that much of a spoiler to say that this issue Gauge realizes what readers realized last issue: she was brainwashed by the Reversionists, and her mentors Arcee and Greenlight were thrown into a cell because there’s no way they’d let something like that happen to Gauge without restraints or a seriously high body count. Probably both.
I loved the image in Gauge’s recently-returned memories, of Arcee and Greenlight meeting her right after she was forged. They looked so proud, both of her and of themselves for being chosen to be with her. It’s a shame everything had to go so badly so quickly, but that one moment was nice.
The whole issue seems to be about choice. Obviously Gauge’s choices were taken away, but there’s a few shots of Accelerator (Gauge’s fake mentor since her real ones are locked up) that seem to imply that she’s looking hard at her own choices. Arcee and Greenlight were proud to be there for Gauge, what must Accelerator be feeling, knowing she only gets to look after Gauge because of betrayal and a lot of brainwashing?
Everyone here started out a Cybertronian. Just like me. When did they decide being a Reversionist mattered more?
Despite the fact that the Reversionists, one of the only religious groups we’ve seen on Cybertron, are definitely the bad guys, I don’t think the story is anti-religious. It’s more about checking in with yourself, making sure that whatever message you’re following, you have the tools to still ask questions and trust the answers and make your decisions based on that.
If I understand the ending of the issue, it feels…like a very overly complicated journey? I loved Mad Max: Fury Road, but I had the same feeling about one of the biggest decisions in that movie. Sorry, I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but I’m curious to see exactly why the Reversionst ship went on that particular trip in order to do what it seems to have done?
Beth McGuire-Smith and Umi Miyao’s art (with Josh Burcham’s colors) blended so well together I sometimes had trouble telling who worked on which page. (I like it when the credits page lists the pages for each artist.) The art was solid all the way through, and several panels stood out: the reds and oranges when Gauge used the psychic patch (side note, I had to look that one up, the Cortical Psychic Patch is from TF Prime and Cyberverse, nice pull there), the image I mentioned of Arcee and Greenlight meeting Gauge, Accelerator glaring down at Gauge and saying “certainly,” it’s all very nicely done.