THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

OTHER TRANSFORMERS BOOKS AND SERIES

Transformers Wreckers #3
Reviewed by Blackjack

/> ”We can’t bring ‘em back.”
Apelinq and Tigatron continue to progress as characters, and the writers did the right thing by dropping several unnecessary characters (CatSCAN and Glyph, despite being entertaining, would distract from the story). Primal Prime had grown into a proper character, with his doubts well written. The whole mission hinges on his faith, for lack of a better term, and he had to enforce it upon the more practical minded ones like Rodimus and Apelinq. It’s a nice parallel to Beast Machines Optimus Primal. Guys like Skywarp also get some nice lines. The retcon about the Quintesson/Primus origin is well done, and doesn’t sound too clunky. At best, it merges the whole ‘Primus is a god in every continuity’ and ‘Quintessons create the transformers in the cartoon’ origins. I don’t see why they need to bring the Dinobots back, though. As much as I love the toys, the characters are indistinguishable from each other.

Primal Prime says ‘Transform and roll out’.

However, the retcon that the Oracle is a Quintesson shell program with Vector Sigma trying to break through is a little slap in the face for Beast Machines. Presumably this might sound better if it had some tie-in with Optimus Primal’s revival in the Universe title, but sadly with both comics having folded, it is impossible to know. It’s a shame, really, since Wreckers is an interesting title. However, unlike Universe Wreckers would be concluded by Fun Publications. FP would release the script of the fourth issue, and make a text story to conclude the arc, which involved the Quintessons trying to invade Cybertron, and would lead almost directly into the Universe comic. Despite the introdumps, though, this might be the weakest (and least fun) of the three Wreckers issues.


This issue is first made available in OTFCC 2004.

From Cryotek’s dialogue, the events of this episode happen somewhere around the final episode of Beast Machines.

The prospect of Unicron and the Quintessons working together is lifted from an idea dropped from the original movie (I think it’s included in some Marvel material), where the Quintessons were supposed to hunt down survivors of planets eaten by Unicron. Among the Quintessons glimpsed in Al-Badur’s flashback include the three-faced silver scientist seen in the G1 episode ‘the Dweller in the Depths’ and an Inquisitor (they guy with big long heads).

The Technoorganics and the Dweller (and the cute little Quints they destroy) are directly lifted from the G1 episode ‘the Dweller in the Depths’. Al-Badur was mentioned by Rewind as one of the Quintessons banished in ‘Madman’s Paradise’. Alpha Trion’s rebellion against the Dark Guardians is seen in ‘Forever is a Long Time Coming’. Quintessons creating the Transformers (retconned into brainwashing, before mass-producing) is revealed in ‘Five Faces of Darkness’, while Vector Sigma is first seen in ‘the Key to Vector Sigma’.

The Oracle being a shell program with Vector Sigma’s influence gradually breaking through might explain why the Oracle had slightly different plans in the two seasons of Beast Machines.

Poison Bite’s tail could be seen among the Quintessons’ techno-organic garden, hinting at his survival. Fun Publications’ Wreckers finale would back this up.

Skywarp collects Sharkticon heads.

T-Wrecks, Triceradon, Dinotron and Terranotron all survive the Dweller’s assault. The unpublished fourth issue would reveal that Striker disappeared into thin air while the rest of the team died in combat against the Dweller. Striker would later appear in the Universe comics, abducted by Unicron.

At the end of the issue MTMTE-styled profiles for Apelinq and Ramulus are found


CatSCAN’s speech bubbles have red borders last issue. This issue his speech bubbles are the same with everyone else’s.

The ‘mechanical’ effect on the techno-organic flower that Cryotek plucks is absent in the second panel. Oh, and Cryotek no longer randomly highlight his words, but that’s an improvement.

The wizened look in Al-Badur’s eyes appear and disappear from panel to panel.

Transformers Primeval Dawn #3

/> ”The Vok are here.”

The action picks up. Furman mixes the Swarm and retcons them into the Vok, ignoring that this is supposed to take place in the cartoon continuity. The Predacons bickering are nicely done, as is Ramulus. Ignoring continuity aside, though, the Vok’s monologue about their origin is well done, and there’s something similar to Primus possessing Xaaron. Frankly there’s not much to comment on here, since it’s truncated and no one bothered to finish it, although I included a presumed ending below. It’s a Vok-centric issue, with Furman retconning it into his Marvel continuity. Not as smooth as the connect-the-dots seen in the Wreckers main story.


However, with the Wreckers comic and Universe comic having given us a glimpse at Primeval Dawn’s ending it’s not hard to figure out where it’ll go from here, even though it’s truncated. Presumably Ramulus would steal the Matrix back and return it to Optimus Prime’s body and Tarantulas would return to Unicron. Primal Prime and Tigatron would recover guys like Fractyl and Sonar, meet Apelinq and recruit Spittor to their cause, while the rest (Airazor, Ravage et al) dies. More or less it’s predictable.

The Vok, of course, is referring to the Swarm, the villains of Generation Two. However, Beast Wars takes place in the cartoon continuity. Of course, with them being super aliens and all, dimension traveling shouldn’t be too hard. But still…


The credits are listed for ‘Primeval Dawn 2’ instead of ‘Primeval Dawn 3’.

The Swarm is from the comic continuity, not from the cartoon continuity.