Transformers #5 Review

[Ender]

After last month things were looking up for the ongoing, sadly Issue 5, beleaguered with baggage from the awful Bumblebee mini, barely has time for to get it's big cliffhanger together. This story line seems to be moving towards a big finish, but sadly, it's not here yet. Check out the Full Review Here.
Read the Full Review Here

[Jason X]

I haven't read issue #5 yet so I'm not going to read this review. I just wanted to stick up for the Bumblebee limited series. I just finished reading issue #4 today an really enjoyed Bumblbee's evolution as a leader. In fact, they should've called the LS All Hail Bumblebee. Just saying....

[Ender]

What evolution? What Leading? He spent over half the series alone.

 

If there was anything to be learned from the events of that series it was that Bumblebee should resign. There was no impetus for character change at all. He wandered around, not because he was leader, but because he was the sole free agent. Found the Deus Ex Machina, and used it, badly.

 

[spoliler]Good thing there was a portable kill Skywarp/Fix the Autobots button handy...

The whole thing was a waste.

 

What evolution? What Leading? He spent over half the series alone.

 

If there was anything to be learned from the events of that series it was that Bumblebee should resign. There was no impetus for character change at all. He wandered around, not because he was leader, but because he was the sole free agent. Found the Deus Ex Machina, and used it, badly.

 

 

Good thing there was a portable kill Skywarp/Fix the Autobots button handy...

The whole thing was a waste.

[Jason X]

I'm not saying it was some sort of masterpiece. As long as Bumblebee is wearing the mantle of leadership his character can't stagnate. The physical changes were apparent by the end of his series and hopefully the changes to his leadership style will manifest in ongoing. It obviously wasn't a team based book. It was about him being forced into leading, screwing it up badly, and putting it right. There's a reason it was named after Bumblbee and not called Transformers Ongoing 2.0.

Yeah, the hacked control panel was convenient, but all literature has convenient plot devices. You don't engineer a situation without creating a way out. The series may never be able to stand on its own but as a supplement to the main book I think it worked.

Reading Ongoing #5 may change my opinion, but only of Ongoing, not Bumblebee.

[Ender]

That's my point. He DID stagnate for 4 issues. All that changed about him was the addition of movie stripes.

 

He didn't learn anything, he didn't change at all. He's the same character on the last page of #4 that he was in AHM #16. It was a pointless mess from start to finish.

[Jason X]

MY point is that we got to see him make a bad decision and deal with the consequences. He went against his better nature, making tough choices to resolve the mess he created.

 

More than a new look, he came out of the series with a new attitude. Being bigger and more heavily armored probably isn't the answer to being a better leader but we'll have to see how that plays out in Ongoing.

 

Either way he came out the other side of his journey with more confidence. This as much as his appearance is the evolution I refered to. I don't see how that can be considered stagnation.

 

If the only thing this story did was inform his conduct in Ongoing it can hardly be called pointless.

[Ender]

I know he was supposed to have shifted attitude, but where does that actually happen, in the comic?

 

 

He does something dumb, then goes off on a lone quest to fix it, not because he's leader, but because he's the only bot physically capable of leaving due to dumb luck (of what seemed like a replicable variety). Then he wanders around, has a totally meaningless encounter with Scavenger. Is disingenuous to a kid to save the Autobots from slavery, feels bad about it but only returns because Skywarp is gonna Step on them. Beats SW by pushing a button... And then comes out with movie stripes, all he says is Roll Out.

 

 

How can you call saying "Roll Out" Character Development? I can see where it was supposed to be, but it's not on the page. Nothing happens to him to justify a change in attitude.

[Jason X]

Saying "Roll out!" is simply representative of a change which will manifest itself in the main title. If Bumblebee were another ongoing title we would see it there instead. A series as big as AHM warranted epilogue issues. This did not.

 

I understand what you're saying about happenstance, coincidence, and convenient plot devices, but IDW isn't CNN. Someone has to come up with this stuff (in this case a one Mr. Zander Cannon) and certainly it's not all going to be gold. Maybe time constraints didn't allow for a more fully realized plot. I could Monday-morning-quarterback it ad nauseum but that would be a exercise in futility.

 

I don't feel that just because it wasn't the best it could be that it should be discounted. It was, for me, still an enjoyable read.