As the cover suggested, the Maximals are going to a little road trip:

Spoiler

• Dinobot reveals the the Golden Disk was discovered to contain encoded data and energy but the Science Ministry at Cybertron downplayed its discovery. This did not prevent Megatron from getting his hands on it.
• The Maximals head off towards the Predacons to capture them. The latter are bickering among themselves, with Terrorsaur becoming restless with Megatron. This almost costs his life, but Tarantulas saves him…to conserve his resources.
• Dinobot fires misses at the Predacons. Optimus Primal steps out, and asks for Megatron.

Highlight:

Not long until the two sides fight each other again!

 

Issue #10: Talking. And Scorponok wears a hat.

Enthralling...

 

Spoiler

Haven't really bothered to keep up with this series but I have decided to have a read through and...once again the writers/editors should have already known how to pace their stories and set up proper conflict. The gang(sans Rhinox because someone should be looking after the Axalon while the rest is away) should have been in the ship at the beginning of the issue discussing the Golden Disk and then Optimus Prime does a reiteration monologue as the Maximals engage with the Predacons and this would have happened after Scorponok & Terrorsaur's little kerfuffle.

This issue could have been good but it seems like it's always going to be half poorly mismanaged.

 

why are they wearing human clothing? doesn't IDW know they're not supposed to? do they not care?

this really is a gag parody comic for kids, isn't it?

 

Can't hear you over Optimus and Megatron's awesome capes!

 

good issue, good build up for the battle to come. we get some nice lore for the golden disk(EH! wheeljack and botanica, very nice); according to Josh, the rattrap lookalike is labrat and the pred who told megatron about the disk is reptilion. this issue felt especially strong with being able to imagine the characters show voices as i read and it fitting perfectly, especially megs confrontation with terrorsaur and the maximals discussions on the shuttle.

we're seeing more familiar shades of the characters; rattrap being a jerk to dinobot and belligerent and questioning primal, rhinox fighting out of necessity, terrorsaurs' mix of ambition and cowardice, megatrons casual manor and lack of tolerance for insubordination, cheetor wanting payback at BA for duping him seems very in character with his cartoon portrayal(feel like he's even said that a few times in it). also, razorbeast as the unsure newcomer is a nice new flavor in the mix(i get the vibe hes going to fill the role of the casual, aloof social butterfly type of person). again, scorponok proves that this version is a more competent pred with some sort of military background which im down with. also, waspinator trying to look tough while training and wearing a sweat band was just so perfect looking   and so much props and humor in waspinator being so aware of what incoming fire sounds like that he gets on his game and gets his teammates down, its almost meta. but that reaction and his immediate concern for them, plus the lack of third person speech, def hint at this waspinator being a less goofy and perhaps more skilled and competent fighter.

everyone felt very in character and enjoyable and im liking the rougher maximal team dynamic that needs to build to comradery and isnt just there from the get go. their just doing their jobs and following orders right now but time will show them grow as an actual team. also, rhinox looked very contemplative as dinobot wrapped up his history lesson on the golden disk-small creative detail by the artist or hint of him knowing more than he lets on?

we're getting much more of the classic dinobot seeping in at a gradual, organic pace. he's isnt violent and out for blood from the get go, he joined the maximals to stop the preds who he no longer feels he belongs with, but little by little now he begins to see how different and incompatible he is from the maximals and their ways. i like that it feels much more real and believable; the cartoon had to overdue and showcase his personality to get the point across to the kids at the time and establish that as his character; here we are granted a much more slow, nuanced ease into that role. as a side note, im bummed dinobot didnt keep the scar and patch on his chest/beast mode eye, it was a fun feature and would have been cool to keep going forward.

one major nitpick; it feels weird and off that it was optimus and dinobot who jury-rigged the transport rather than say rhinox and rattrap or nyx.

middle finger to the haters, im still enjoying the ride  

 

This was fun. We didn't really need the summary page. But it was fun nonetheless. Fun banter, cool character moments. And like Supernova I like how Razorbeast now has his own character trait.

I thought the hat was a cute little gag.  

 

Yo Scorponok wears a hat? Sounds like this comic is picking up

 

It even has the word Coach written on it, so if that's your thing, then yes, it's picking up.

 

I don't know how much more i can justify buying this book. I am enjoying the story but the "art" is painfully horrible

 

Aw hell yeah.

 

I like how they communicated the character dynamics within both the Maximal and Predacon ranks. I'm liking the split between Dinobot and Primal in terms of dealing with the Predacons. I'm hoping that pays off at some point, especially with if/when they have to deal with Blackarachnia.

Also, IDW doing a bit more between Cheetor and BA is nice. She handed him his butt in her debut episode and it's cool that they're doing a version of that here. In fact, now that i think about it this is a similar set-up to the end of that episode where Rattrap "defects." His job is to get inside the Darksyde while the Maximals fight outside.

Razorbeast being opposed to taking out the Preds because he feels like he and Skold may have a bond is interesting. I expect there to be some payoff there, especially when Primal is basically using that to their advantage. Skold hates being treated like an idiot, and will likely be VERY angry with Razorbeast if she thinks he's going along with Primal's plan to use their past against her.

And the exchange between Megatron, Terrorsaur, and Tarantulas is very very interesting. Megs is a bit impulsive, but I like that he's not keen on treachery and the only thing that's keeping anyone alive is Tarantulas...who's motives can be best described as creepy. If the comic ends up incorporating elements from season 2, I could see them keeping Terrorsaur's death...but having Tarantulas experiment on his corpse with Transmetal tech as a lead up to the TM2 driver.

Humor, in Beast Wars? Who's ever heard of such a ridiculous concept.

I'm glad the show remained super serious and never did anything like give their main villain a rubber ducky or showed him brushing his beast mode's teeth. That would have been so dumb.

As someone who was only loosely familiar with the Gathering, I was expecting him to come in guns blazing and side with Dinobot more. So this is definitely a new take that I'm glad to have. Especially since my brain can't help but give him Pumba's voice from Lion King.

 

I'm all for humour in Beast Wars stories. The problem is that the comic isn't humourous.

 

I thought issue 10 was very good. I’m loving Burnhams writing. I can actually get lost in the characters. They come alive. I don’t think I’ve experienced THAT since early MTMTE.

 

If Megatron's rubber duck never existed before, and was shown for the first time in this comic, it would be called out as a dumb stupid incomprehensible thing. And rightfully so. But because it showed up in the original cartoon, its accepted. The Beast Wars cartoon writers were crafting in what was acceptable humor for the show. And now, fans have an expectation of the humor and absurdity level from a Beast Wars story. Just because a modern day writer introduces some dumb new thing as a joke, that doesn't mean it has to be accepted as something clever or amusing. The COACH cap is just headscratchingly dumb; its not clever or amusing, and just makes the readers ask themselves why?

 

Well it makes this reader chuckle.

 

If the word Coach had been written in the Predacon or Maximal script, it would have been a fun little Easter Egg, as you'd have to look up what it said. That is at least clever, and calls back to the Animators doing similar things in the show. But it being written in English takes out any fun.

 

*pat pat*

 

I’m glad I’ve grown into the type of adult that can appreciate this comic rather than a buzzkill that gets hung up over creators that are having fun.

All I can say is that if visual gags don’t work for you then you may want to avoid consuming comic media.