Dreamwave G1 The War Within Issue #6
​

Up for review starting on 11-4-2022 is issue #6 of Dreamwave's G1 Transformers The War Within. It was originally released on March 12, 2003, and had a cover date of March 2003. It was written by Simon Furman, drawn by Don Figueroa, inks by Elaine To, colors by Rob Ruffolo, letters by Dreamer Design, graphic design by Kevin Lee and Matt Moylan, the assistant editor was Matt Moylan, and the editor-in-chief was Roger Lee.

The TFWiki link to Dreamwave's The War Within issue #6 is below for more available information about the issue as a whole.​

The War Within issue 6 - Transformers Wiki​

Based upon the Comichron sales chart for the month of March 2003, the sixth issue of The War Within moved down to 19 from 13.​

Comichron: March 2003 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops​

Follow the rules (see this threads first post if you need to review them) be as critical, or as complimentary as you like, and don't hold anything back! Have fun everyone, and remember NO SPOILERS FOR FUTURE ISSUES

Reviews of previous issues in this thread begin at the numbers below
#14, #35, #51, #68, #82. #102, #133, #154, #164, #175, #187, #194​

Additional Dreamwave content up for review​

1.) The Cover to issue #6

Drawn by Don Figueroa, inks by Elaine To, colors by Rob Ruffolo



2.) Transformers Generation One Commemorative Series




3.) Transformers More Than Meets the Eye #2

​

Lets Transform And Read Out!
​

 

I kind of flipped thru this whole series when nniuq announced that it was up next. I did like it then and obviously it's approximately 10 trillion times better than the initial Dreamwave offering... but rereading it today, I didn't really find a lot of meat on the bones. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike it or anything, but I didn't find a lot to resonate with, here. The ending is fine, if not particularly satisfying. After all, the war obviously must continue, and this was merely a skirmish. Optimus Prime has doubts; he moves past them. He's on his way to becoming the leader we know and love.

I must compliment Don... again I must point out that he was a fan artist and he was thrown into the deep end, here. The shortcomings in his work are way, way outshined by how well this came together. He's only going to get better from here.

It's still an enjoyable mini, but it leaves me wanting more. I guess that's no bad thing.

 

Also, that ad for Jazz is dumb. "Parachute pants?" That's late 80s, early 90s. It's not the same time period that Jazz is from. You're mixing eras of nostalgia, dummies.

 

"No! Optimus!"

 

I have some issues with the final issue. I'll include them in my review when I post it tomorrow. I have it set in my mind that I am going to streamline my reviews. I put too much into them. I feel like I am writing an essay for a college class sometimes. I hated college! Still graduated though, but it sucked- just about all of it!

I think he'll be okay. If not then we have a paradox on our hands. If so, then I guess that I would have to read this

in order to make things better...

Although the kiddie-like art may make me feel ill.

I don't remember parachute pants at all. Were they a thing out in the suburbs?

Also, they did get one thing right in that add. Some kids Mom's disposed of their kids toys. My friends mom threw out his entire toy collection of Transformers, Gi-Joe (he had the shuttle complex), and He-man toys while he was away in the army. He was beyond pissed when he got back. If I'd have known that she threw them out I would have grabbed them, and saved them.

 

They are talking about the kind of pants MC Hammer or sometimes Bobby Brown wore; big, baggy things. I think Hammer even "parachutes" out of a building in them in a dumb commercial... but that's something like ten years after the relevance of Jazz. I guess this was the start of the dumb nostalgia bait that EVERYTHING is soaked in today.

 

Oh dang! I remember those! LOL! No- no one in the suburbs where I grew up wore them. They are so stupid looking that these days I almost want a pair! I'd wear them as a joke when my niece and nephew come to visit. You know, I would have loved it if someone came knocking on my door last week dressed up like MC Hammer!

And yeah, what the heck? That was almost a decade after Jazz hit the store shelves.

 

The War Within #6​

Closing Statement: Well, The War Within started off strong enough, but it really started losing steam in the second half. Optimus and Megatron getting cut off from the plot to gaze at their navels and Starscream wanting to blow everything up just because really brought down the quality of the series. Grimlock was a delight, but the whole really was less than the sum of its parts.

General Thoughts and Comments:

• EVERYTHING IS EXPLODING!
• Did Simon Furman just run out of ideas for Starscream? Is that why he wants to blow everything up?
• And by "did what had to be done" Optimus actually means he choked at the last minute and let Megatron get away.
• How convenient is it that Megatron just somehow forgot everything he learned?
• And now Optimus sums up the point of this miniseries I guess.

Questions and Continuity Concerns:

• What is Megatron planning to do with Starscream after everything he pulled?
• What did Optimus do to Megatron to make him lose his memories?
• How does that golden disk contain all the wisdom of the past? Is it just a giant wikipedia or something?

What I Liked:

• Optimus Prime's take-charge attitude.
• Wonderful art and colors.

What I Disliked:

• The ending was rather abrupt, it's like Furman wanted to make Issue 5 double length but got shot down and had to settle for cutting it in half.

Final Verdict: 6/10​

 

Comic: Yet again, a hand begins the comic. Optimus Prime holds a Golden Disc that contains the wisdom of the past.

Review: A DVD/CD contains the wisdom of the past. That's kind of eh. At least the Golden Disc from Beast Wars was of human origin. In this story the Transformers, who are a highly technological society use dated earthen methods of storage. Something better than a CD should have been used.

Comic: Cybertron is being mechaformed:

Review: Everything blowing up is pretty amazing. Don did a superb job with the artwork. Although, I'm not sure what the AL7 on one of the buildings that is blowing up stands for. If anyone knows let me know.

Comic: Within: Optimus has Grimlock's sword and is prepared to finish off Megatron.

Review: Optimus stating that he is ready of finish off Megatron "permanently" is out of character for Optimus. Megatron lurking in the shadows behind Optimus, is not out of character for Megatron. Megatron is a great many things, but being honorable is not one of them.

Comic: Above: The Autobots Kup, Ironhide, and Wheeljack are at war with the Decepticons while Cybertron is mechaforming around them

Review: I like the banter between Kup and Ironhide. Kup is one of those season three characters that could have been drop shipped into both season one, and season two of the cartoon, and he would have fit right in. It would have been great to see him, and Ironhide argue about anything, and everything. Two grizzled warriors, two old curmudgeons, two Transformers who took sh!t from no one.

I have stated it in earlier reviews, but the trio of Kup, Ironhide, and Wheeljack are a great trio. There's the two grizzled veterans, and the super intelligent scientist. It just works with the three of them. However, I would have liked for there to have been a bit more banter between them, as I think it could have been humorous without turning into a complete joke. Ironhide, and Kup could be their normal curmudgeonly selves, while Wheeljack played the straight man to their bickering.

Comic: Despite the protests of Scrapper, Starscream is filled with glee at the imminent destruction of the Autobots, and Shockwave.

Review: I'm not sure of what Starscream's end goal is. He'll lose half his troops if the mechaforming completes its intended goal. So, if that happens who will he have left to boss around? Scrapper?

Comic: Shockwave calls for the Decepticons to retreat back to their base. As the Decepticons fall back Jazz helps Prowl to his feet, and says they need to leave.

Review: Shockwave calling for his troops to depart is the logical choice. Shockwave knows that if they stay then he will have no troops left to command. It appears that insight such as this is lost on Starscream.

I'm not sure of who two robots are. As Blitzwing, and Octane (what a great redesign for Octane!) are transforming and flying away there are two robots on the ground. One is red the other is grey. I have no idea who they are.

Comic: Optimus beats the cr@p out of Megatron.

Review: I'm not really feeling right about this dark version of Optimus Prime. I just doesn't sit well with me. I understand, that this is a grave situation, but the dialog is very Un-Optimus-like.

Comic: Grimlock shows up to help out Kup, Ironhide, and Wheeljack. Meanwhile, Scrapper (finally) tries to stop Starscream from destroying the planet.

Review: It only took Scrapper three or so issues to stand up to Starscream, and when he finally does the whole planet is being destroyed.

Comic: Optimus arrives where Kup, Ironhide, Wheeljack, and Grimlock are. Optimus takes control of the situation. He tells Kup and Ironhide to draw the Decepticons fire away from Wheeljack. Optimus then sends Wheeljack within to destroy the Propulsion system. Seeing that he is beaten Starscream flies away. Within, Wheeljack launches a missile at the propulsion system, blowing it up, and the resulting explosion ends the mechaforming of Cybertron.

Review: I like how Optimus spoke during his exchanges with Kup and Ironhide, and Grimlock. He took control of the situation, and acted like a leader. This is the Optimus that I like. Also, when Starscream was escaping Optimus simply stated that he's not the priority here. The priority is to stop the mechaforming process.

Comic: Optimus tells his troops that they will not be evacuating Cybertron, and that if they do the situation with the Decepticons will only escalate, and that the Autobots will dig in, and use underground bases to fight the Decepticons.

Review: To be honest I wish we would have gotten more time in and around Iacon. We only saw small glimpses of it.

Optimus finally seeing the bigger picture is refreshing. It's the sad truth that if you ignore evil or run away from evil then you are allowing that evil to grow, and that the battle against evil is a never ending battle. That's the reality of life. It's not a good reality, but it's the reality nonetheless.

Comic: A battered Soundwave, and the Insecticons, find, and help a memory-less Megatron out from within.

Review: Donberg did an awesome job on the battered Soundwave. Even lacking an arm, he looks super cool.

It appears that Optimus gave Megatron some kind of miniature lobotomy. If that is possible, then why didn't Optimus also remove the part of Megatron that craved power, and warfare?

Comic: Optimus tells Grimlock that he understands him now. Optimus states that while he was within, that he tapped into a darkness on the Transformers past that had been widely forgotten. He then shows Grimlock the DVD/CD with that contains the wisdom of the ages. Optimus then proceeds to throw it away, out into the universe.

Review: Well, the darkness bit within cybertron explains the difference in personality that came out of him while he was battling Megatron. I'm not sure that I like that reasoning all that much, but I am fully aware of how different locations can greatly affect a persons personality, and their actions. So, as much as I didn't exactly care for that plot device, I know that it is not just a made up phenomena.

Optimus being given the knowledge of the past Primes, and then just throwing it away is beyond dumb to me. It's like someone hands you the secrets to life, and you just say, "Nah, I'm going figure it out on my own, and make a lot of fu*k ups just because I wanna be me." Seriously, is there anyone who has ever lived, that didn't want to go back to their younger self and give them some advice? Or at least wish that they knew then, what they know now?

Then Optimus throws the knowledge of the past Primes out into the solar system! What the...?! Anyone could find that thing now? Who knows what kind of Autobot secrets that it had on it! I think Furman was trying to be deep here, by saying that Prime was brave, and wanted to forge his own destiny, and not be saddled with the decision of the past Primes. To me it doesn't come across like that though. It comes across as someone who's just stupid. In my opinion Optimus Prime would not have done that.

Final Thoughts:

The good​

• Grimlock was amazing. He stole every panel that he was in.

• The trio of Ironhide, Kup, and Wheeljack were great. I just wish that we would have had more interactions between the three of them.

• The redesigns were simply amazing. Donberg deserves the lion share of the credit for making this series look like a million dollars, and making it more interesting than if a lesser artist had done the work (Sadly, we'll be seeing lesser artwork in future issues of this continuity).

• Cybertron was equally amazing. This was not G1 Cybertron this was Donberg's Cybertron.

The Bad​

• There wasn't enough of the siege on Iacon. I would have liked to have seen an entire issue devoted to just that battle.

• There wasn't enough of Shockwave and Prowl.

• Soundwave being on jobber duty sucked.

• Starscream being completely illogical in his actions was, well, illogical.

• I REALLY would have liked to have had access to a map of Cybertron so I could know where things were taking place.

The Honesty
​

Unfortunately the last half of the series wasn't as good as the middle. So, what we have here is (in my opinion) a somewhat disjointed introduction, a brilliant middle, and a lackluster ending.

I'll agree with Rojixus, and give it a 6/10

 

Transformers The War Within #6
March 2003
Story - Simon Furman, Pencils - Don Figeroa, Inks - Elaine To, Colors - Rob Ruffalo

The final "hand and forearm" opening is Optimus Prime himself, when the elders gave him the Matrix. I'm not sure if the "cd" is meant to be a reference to the golden disk from Beast Wars or not. But the phrase "dark times" from the narration stands out as the page turns and the devastation to Iacon from Starscream's activation of the terraforming option is just massive.

Beneath the surface, far removed from the devastation, Optimus hunts Megatron, armed with Grimlock's sword, while Ironhid, Kup and Wheeljack take on the Constructicons. Starscream is caught up in the moment, convinced that the mechaforming has solved his problems both with the Autobots and Shockwave, but Shockwave has survived and pulls the Decepticon army out before they all go down with the city. The surviving Autobots, including Prowl and Jazz, need to evacuate as well.

It's the fight between Optimus and Megatron that stands out to me here, and it just seems hard to credit the idea that Optimus can so thoroughly turn the tables on Megatron and beat him so badly, given how Megatron has had the upper hand for the past two issues and clearly appeared to be the better combatant of the two. It seems that from what Optimus says here, he was holding back and was simply unwilling to fight as brutally as Megatron, but now he is willing to do so. I'm not sure I buy it, honestly. It's good to see that Optimus is in fact Megatron's equal, as he should be, but I guess I just have mixed feelings about the seeming ease with which he suddenly is able to beat his formerly unbeatable opponent.

From here, Optimus shows up at the battle where Kup and Ironhide are pinned down not long after Grimlock does and quickly takes command. Grimlock objects, but Optimus doesn't back down, and even gives Grimlock the old death glare at one point. It's Wheeljack who stops the engines after everyone runs for it or evacuates on Prime's orders, and on the surface Prime publicly reverses his earler stance about evacuation, understanding far more of the big picture now than he did then. As it had to be, given that this is a prequel, no major characters die in the chaos, and Optimus did not kill Megatron. The theme of the series is restated in the final pages as Optimus characterizes the war to be more than killers is just as important as the war with the Decepticons. And the disk from the first page is finally explained as a gift to Optimus of "the combined wisdom of those who came before him", which he discards in favor of finding his own path.

I don't think the story quite sticks the landing as well as it could, but Furman really can't resolve very much, given that it's set in the distant past and so many characters have to survive to appear in the present day. Megatron was always going to survive, and the war was always going to go on, no matter what happened in these six issues. I think the strengths of this series lie largely in the art and the characterization (with one exception), both of which are extremely strong, but the overall plot depends on how well Optimus Prime's character arc holds up. I think it mostly works, even if visions of the future might be a bit too fantastic a motivator for Prime's change of heart. Starscream just losing his mind is a part of this series that always annoys me as well. As much as I love Simon Furman's take on Grimlock, I really don't like his characterization of Starscream, who is fine through issue 3, but who goes off the rails in the latter half of the series.

I'm going to give a final grade of 7/10 for the last issue, and 9/10 for the series as a whole. The art and characters are strong for all six issues (other than Starscream during the second half), but while the plot starts very strong, it bogs down a bit in the middle, and ends with an "everything explodes" bit of chaos that is mostly earned, but still feels like a means to break up the action and put a pause on it simply because the story has to end here. Still, this mini-series was a tremendous improvement over "Prime Directive" in every way, and remains one of my favorite Transformers series ever. The flaws are there, but it has far more strengths than flaws.

 

This is the same issue that people had with Optimus beating Soundwave so easily. Yes, Optimus, is and should be stronger than Soundwave, but dispatching him so easily was a bit too much.

Optimus beating Megatron with relative ease is also a problem. Megatron, and Optimus are (for the most part) suppose to be equals. yet, here Optimus beats Megatron with seemingly little effort.

This leaves us to wonder, If Optimus is THAT powerful why has the war gone on for millions of years. Someone who is THAt powerful should have ended it almost as soon as it started.

Hmmm. I didn't notice the death glare. I'll have to go back and look at that.

I'll agree. Starscream (at least in the second half of the book) was handled poorly. The things that he did, didn't make that much sense.

I really want to go back and give Prime Directive (all of it) much lower grades than I did. Story Wise I never liked Prime Directive. I had issues with the art too. It was a mixture of amazing art, amazing colors, and bad art, and weird dimensions. If I could go back and re-vote I'd probably give Prime Directive a 4.

Onward to the Volume 2 preview issue.

 

I was thinking about how reading these in publication order helps recreate some of my initial feelings about these comics. Prime Directive scores decently on it's own, until I read what follows and have a higher standard to measure by. I might well lower my scores a bit as well if I were to rethink it after reading War Within. But I'll leave them as they are for now.

 

I stand by my scores, Prime Directive was absolutely dreadful! The art was godawful, the story was a trite mess that clearly wanted to be a movie, and the characters were walking clichés. I don't even have to compare it to anything, it was just a bad story in and of itself.

 

We can't lower our scores that part of the election is over so we have to live with our bad choices.
​

​

I just want to bring some attention to the picture below​

​

I'm not sure who drew this, but I like it a lot. The artwork is VERY G1 cartoon-like. It makes me wish that whomever drew it had also drawn a Dreamwave G1 cartoon continuation series in comic book form. IF Dreamwave were to have contacted some of the original G1 writers, and used whoever this artist was, and had made a series based on the original cartoon, I would have bought it.

 

Maybe Guido? The faces remind me of Don

 

Dreamwave G1 Volume 2 Preview
​

Up for review starting on 11-11-2022 is the preview issue for Dreamwave's Transformers G1 Volume #2. This eight-page story was never published as an individual issue. A preview was made available online in December 2002, lacking all text captions and speech bubbles. The story was published in the Transformers: Generation 1 vol. 1: Prime Directive trade paperback collection which came out the same month. It was written by Chris Sarracini, penciled by Pat Lee, inked by Rob Armstrong, backgrounds were drawn by Juan Malera, Trang Dang, and Gary Yeung, the colorists were Pat Lee, and Ramil Sunga

The TFWiki link to Dreamwave's G1 Volume 2 preview is below for more available information about the issue as a whole.​

Transformers Volume 2 Preview - Transformers Wiki

​

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ISSUE!

When Chris Sarracini was replaced by James McDonough/Brad Mick as the writer of the second Generation 1 mini, this story direction was dropped and replaced by an entirely new plot. ​

Therefore, this preview is pretty much pointless in retrospect.​

Follow the rules (see this threads first post if you need to review them) be as critical, or as complimentary as you like, and don't hold anything back! Have fun everyone, and remember NO SPOILERS FOR FUTURE ISSUES.
​

Reviews of previous issues in this thread begin at the numbers below
#14, #35, #51, #68, #82. #102, #133, #154, #164, #175, #187, #194, #201


The Champion of Dreamwave's Transformers G1 The War Within.​

• Issue 6 comes in 7th place with 3 votes for a combined total of 6.33
  
• Preview comes in 6th place with 3 votes for a combined total of 6.6
  
• Issue 5 comes in 5th place with 3 votes for a combined total of 7.67
• Issue 4 comes in 4th place with 4 votes for a combined total of 7.75
• Issue 2 comes in 3rd place with 3 votes for a combined total of 8.3
• Issue 3 comes in 2nd place with 4 votes for a combine total of 8.38
• Issue 1 comes in at 1st place with 4 votes for a combined total of 8.5

As a result of last nights election results, Dreamwave's Prime Directive is no longer the number one contender to become the Real World Heavyweight Championship. Let's go to our broadcast journalist, and his colleague, who are currently on location, in order to get the latest on the results.

1st Place: The War Within issue number 1 with 8.5 million votes

2nd Place: Prime Directive issue number 5 with 7 million votes



Additional Dreamwave Content Up For Review


1.) Article from Wizards Edge Magazine official website

This short blurb appeared on Wizards Edge website, offering a small bit of information about the original story line.



2.) Picture of Wizards Edge Magazine issue that contained the article

If anyone has a link to the actual article please share it.



3.) The Promotional Advertisement for the Preview Issue

Drawn by Pat Lee





Lets Transform And Read Out!

​

 

I'm pretty sure I've read this somewhere, but it's another bit of Dreamwave that I don't own. Where was it originally published?

 

The story was published in the Transformers: Generation 1 vol. 1: Prime Directive trade paperback collection.


It's not very good, and the author was replaced before Volume 2 was even written. So, it doesn't play much of a role in Dreamwave's G1 Volume 2. If it were left out of this read along all together it wouldn't make a difference.

It'll be neat to compare what was set up here to what we actually got in DW TF G1 Volume 2. That's the only reason that it was included.

I fully expect this to be torn to shreds by just about everyone.

 

Don't think I've ever seen this before. Sounds like the same boring, Transformers-lite horseshit that comprised volume one.

 

Yes, but I enjoyed what came after. I always felt that Dreamwave's Transformers hit it's stride around the time of War and Peace, and the first War Within. That's when they found their groove. Perhaps if they had started with those two titles, the company may still be around today. It's obvious by looking at the sales charts that many of the people who bought Prime Directive were disappointed enough that they didn't even bother with The War Within.