Now this a turn point for the series: Spoiler Megatron and Strika officially rebrand the Ascenticons as the Decepticons, and launch an attack within the senate. They are victorious. Bumblebee ignores Starscream’ suggestion that the two of them become friends. Cyclonus tried to find Chromia for information on Sixshot, but is turned away by Prowl. Highlights: Now I’m interested in seeing how issue #25 continues the momentum this issue has established. I suspect issue #24 is going to be similar to issue #6 and #12.
Those panels look interesting at least, tempted to pick it up and give it another 6 monthly evaluation.
This looks really good, but I am also a bit worried. Think the next few issues will decide whether I like the whole series and where it is going or not. I hope Exarchon and the past war will be relevant to make it different from the war and events we have already witnessed a billion times before. And that they won't kill off the many no-names and less popular characters this series has so far to make room for the generics we always see.
I've not been keeping up too heavily with the series, so pardon my ignorance, but, do we know what's coming after issue 25? Is it just straightforward issue 26, or is there any kind of rebranding coming that we know of?
The IDW November 2020 solicitation will reveal that, although given what was mentioned of issue #25, it doesn't appear that there'll be any rebranding of the series.
And so the revolution begins. Really good issue, and I can't wait to see how the war plays out in #25. I hope that there won't be any major time skips during the war and that a new spin can come from it in this series. Also has anyone else seen that Orion's upper arms have been colors black instead of white in recent issues?
Me too. They should make the best out of that setting and that would be exploring the early stages of war, which are mostly unknown territory for us, since continuities always like to skip right to the final stage or do something completely different. What I want to see is how exactly the Cons built up their army, how the big names have joined and why, how they changed and how the war influences the neutral bots or those that still have close ties to characters that now belong to the enemy faction (Cosmos and Blast-Off could be such an example). Judging by the newly announced short series Transformers Escape and what Ruckley has said about it though I have hopes. He genuinely seems to be interested in a lot of the less popular characters, neutral/third groups not belonging to the Cons or Autobots and alien cultures in general. So I think his stories will keep filling the holes instead of doing what others did before.
I loved the way Megatron is drawn here. He looks literally wicked. Some scenes I wasn't fond of, particularly those featuring Ironhide's team. It all seemed almost pointless. The random rotating cast is something I usually like, but shifting in names like Clench and Apeface almost feels like Ruckley is randomly generating obscure names to fill a scene. I wonder if Flamewar and Slipstream, or the other established Rise/Decepticons are doing something important somewhere else right now and that's why. Also Subsea just stands out waaayyyy too much. He was invented as an extra just to die in Marvel UK and his inclusion here feels nothing short of fanwank. Almost disappointed that the acid rain didn't just melt the entire Senate and was more of a warning before the actual kabam. Fun issue overall, even if it ended too quickly once again. I will say that Strika is looking much better here than she did in IDW1, though. Her skull-like face is genuinely intimidating, but she still doesn't overshadow Megatron, who is really the star of this issue. I still think the opening exchange between him and Optimus isn't great dialogue, just because of how purple and stilted it is, but his speech to the Senate, accompanied by the art, was genuinely good. "We deceived you," I'm so glad this turned out to be an actual line, since the Decepticons rolling with Deception in a genuine way is just grand.
The art is pretty bad. Something this impactful deserved to be better drawn. This series is being done a tight budget.
I wouldn’t say the art is bad, just simplified. Everyone has their own tastes but I’d say I’m a fan of Anna Malkova’s art.
Alright, now that Megatron has outed himself, the story has no choice but to pick up the pace as the political discussions take a back seat. We've seen minor skirmishes, but we have yet to see how Ruckley handles the larger scale conflicts that will inevitably follow the events of this issue. All in all, I actually quite liked this one. We've seen the peace becoming increasingly strained in the past few issues, but now we've reached a breaking point. There's absolutely no going back. The war is finally upon us, and we'll get to see its earliest battles play out. I've had my doubts about Ruckley and I still do, and while I still think this was too slow of a burn (the first five or six issues practically go nowhere and could've been cut entirely) we're finally here. I don't know how exactly how he's going to handle things from this point on, but I'm going to try and stay optimistic. Strika got her share of time in the limelight this issue, which is a positive because Strika is criminally underutilized as a character, but as Coffee has said, Megatron positively steals the show in this installment. He's so unapologetically evil, it's a delight.
Although I like the Attoner Megatron from the MTMTE/LL, I do agree that now it´s neat to see Megatron being unapologetic evil.
I've seen more exciting art on cereal boxes... except that art actually sells product. (So frustrating)
I can't help but wonder how great this series would look if Guido was drawing it instead. Can we get the best G1 TF artist on the main title after Secrets and Lies is done?