by: Ruel De Vera
Porky Pig is most known for the saying:
"That's all folks!"
"Beep! Beep!"
"I tawt I saw a putty tat!"
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
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Right off the Ratbat, let me say that I really, really wanted to like
Transformers Micromasters. The writing team of James McDonough and Adam
Patyk are the best Dreamwave have to offer, the Micromasters have always
been among my favorite TF ideas, Rob Ruffolo's art fit the bill and it's
nice when Dreamwave does something TF-related that's off the beaten track.
All that now out of the way, it's fair to say that, as a whole, the
four-issue Micromasters mini-series has had its moments but, as it is
wrapped up, has also been underwhelming. After a rousing first two issues, the mini slowed down considerably with the notably delayed third issue and, while events do pick up quite some velocity in the writers' attempt to wrap everything up, just goes off at a bizarre tangent with the concluding fourth issue.
"Victims of the Revolution" was meant to tie up the seemingly disparate
events that had been saved up by the end of last issue's "Recipe for Hate" story. Thanks to a wily plan by the returned Skystalker, Shockwave is out of commission and the guzzler Decepticons are set to make an all-out attack on the Autobots. Skystalker had captured some Micros with the reluctant acquiescence of Barricade and crew. Meanwhile, the Hot Rod Patrol have divined what may be happening and, rebuffed by the Battle Patrol at Autobase, have instead gone to see the enigmatic Countdown.
With "Victims," it becomes clear that the full-size Decepticons are being
sent in to die so that Skystalker could take over without their
interference.
The Autobots, faced with no other choice but to try and liberate the captive Micros, set out to meet the Cons, unaware that their foes are on the way as well. Countdown and the Hot Rod Patrol slip into Decepticon Headquarters and are soon engaged in a busy firefight. The true nature of everyone's plans are revealed on all fronts and, after a lot of combat, it is safe to say that thing son Cybertron will never be the same.
All this continues to be filtered pretty much through the optic sensors of Big Daddy, who is admittedly a very sympathetic if somewhat cillating protagonist. It's interesting to see how Big Daddy is juxtaposed to the likes of the secretive yet charismatic Countdown, the brash and determined Groundshaker, the cynical Fortress Maximus and the dutiful Ultra Magnus. In the end, Micromasters is really about the Hot Rod Patrol.
All told, McDonough and Patyk succeed in setting down the groundwork of
what they spoke of in the G1 More Than Meets The Eyes series and the G1
ongoing. The characters are very true to their MTMTE entries. The only
problem is that "Victims" has a hurried, cramped feel to it, almost as if
the writers were desperate trying to cram all the unused material into the final issue. Not only is this last issue dialogue-heavy, but the plotting is noticeably confusing. Kudos to the pair for the ingenious premises and the little hints here and there, but the ending is far from satisfying-aside from hinting a possible continuation somewhere else, a welcome development-and there's just ay too much exposition instead of storytelling.
The hurrying is obvious in Ruffolo's art as well. What had been a nice
point in the last few issues-the variety of mecha being presented-just
completely goes wild here. There are so many characters here that even
Ruffolo, despite his best efforts, seems overwhelmed by it all. Aside from the suddenly similar Micros, the Deluxe Insecticons are downright ugly and the level of detail inconsistent-some scenes brimming with really OC battle damage, others without any at all. It's a shame too considering that one gets the feeling that Ruffolo (and inker Eric Sander) may have just needed more time to give the artwork a better finish.
Micromasters has been a very diverting if at times confusing read. Ruffolo succeeds in introducing a whole bucketload of new characters and the writers get to play around with some really interesting ideas. There are, however, a bit too many loose threads at the end of this mini (What really happens to the Golden Disc? Where did everyone else go off to) that one hopes there better be a sequel to the mini. Transformers Micromasters provides some jolts of excitement and fanboy fun, but by series end, comes off as being quite uneven and leave way too many unanswered questions even for a four-issue mini-series.
Reports from Vector Sigma:
1) Pat Lee's cover (featuring the neon Hubs) not only features the cover
from # 2, but flyers for the skateboard maker Dreamwave's tied up with.
There are two nice touches: snapshots, it seems, of the Micros from happier times tacked to the wall not unlike those photos found on the inside of high school locker doors, and bumper stickers with the logo of Scramble City. And yes that is the infamous Golden Disc is Hubs' manipulators.
2) Man those Triplechangers get around, don't they? It must be a testament to the popularity and usefulness of Blitzwing, Octane and Astrotrain that they make appearances in the Micromasters series as well as War Within and the G1 ongoing. Same thing goes from Dirge and Thrust. Take note in the battle scenes: the seekers still retain their Cybertronian alt modes.
3) Nice funny scene with Shockwave's head. Also some inside jokes can be
found in Skystalker's impersonation of the one-eyed guy.
4) Very interesting flashback to when the Micros were training with the
by-the-numbers Ultra Magnus. Not only do we see other Micros like Roughstuff but we can see that Barricade used to called Runner.
5) Weirdly enough, there seems to be a lack of Autobots available for this series. Aside from Magnus and Maximus, we only get a clear glimpse of a few others such as Roadbuster and Kup.
6) Maximus and Magnus are portrayed very accurately in this last issue, also pointing perhaps to where they consequently wound up after this little tussle. Along those lines, it's hard not to like just how ambiguous a character Countdown turned out to be, or how disenchanted Big Daddy wound up. It all makes one want to find out where all of them are heading off to.
