Hearts of Steel - Transformers Wiki This was actually a great comic that looked at an interesting concept: steampunk Transformers, that surfaced in the 19th century, when industrial tech was making a boom (locomotives, carriages, blimps) and of course impacting upon humanity. It was sort of an “Elseworlds” version of Transformers (i.e. an alternate twist on a classic concept), but it was more or less popular enough to warrant a sequel comic in 2011, and to be homaged (rather sparsely) in ROTF. Apart from the concept, the story by Chuck Dixon is simple and great enough too: an enterprising steampunk inventor encounters some online Decepticons, who promises to help him achieve his dreams. Predictably he realizes he chose the wrong side and that he’s actually helping them take over Earth, but thankfully some Autobots are also online and able to stop the Cons. The artwork by TF veteran artist Guido Guidi, is fantastically Victorian and apt for the bots It’s got its badass moments too: there’s Mark Twain beating the slag out of Ravage with a whip and a chair, the Insecticon trio acting as a gestalt locomotive, and John Henry teaming up with the Autobots. It makes for a great tale and an interesting alternate perspective within the TF saga, and while the sequel comic was not as good (it involved zombies and fish people), I hope there can be more similar steampunk sagas in the future.
I really enjoyed the story. I remember thinking it would have made for an interesting on going. The best thing about the comic is the release of the 3rd party figures. The Shockwave figure is simply amazing, and fun as hell to mess around with.
Why not? On topic: Interesting concept, lackluster execution. Especially the ending where the Decepticons suddenly forgot they can fly. It seems like Dixon just ran out of ideas halfway through. Then again, he's never exactly been a great writer to begin with.
