Review: My Little Pony/Transformers: The Magic of Cybertron by James Asmus et al.

I guess the first Transformers/My Little Pony crossover must have sold well, because just five months after it came to an end, another one began-- and the end has hints for a third! While the first featured Queen Chrysalis bringing the Transformers to Equestria, this one has Megatron bringing the ponies to Cybertron, inadvertently releasing King Sombra in the process. Sombra promptly mind controls a group of ponies, Decepticons, and Autobots, and its up to the remaining ponies and Transformers on both sides to figure out a way to stop him from conquering two worlds.

IDW does a lot of these weird mash-ups: Transformers/G.I. Joe, Star Trek/Transformers, Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes, and so on. Part of what can make them less effective, I think, is that in your head, you can imagine six million different fun things that can happen... but if it's a four-issue miniseries telling a single story, there probably isn't room for most of those, and the resulting story is a bit more plodding. (The sheer insanity of Transformers vs. G.I. Joe is of course an exception to this.) Thus, I like the format of these MLP/TF crossovers. Each of the four issues contains two ten-page stories; in between the opener and the finale, we get can get six quick stories against the broad framework of "what would ponies do on Cybertron?" This lets the writers indulge whatever weird team-ups they like, without having to worry about how it all goes together. (Indeed, in some cases, they clearly haven't worried about how it fits together at all!)

from My Little Pony/Transformers #1
(script by Sam Maggs, art by Casey W. Coller)

So, in the six middle stories we get:

• a team-up between two lesbian parent couples (MLP's Holiday and Loftie, aunts/guardians of Scootaloo, and TF's Arcie and Greenlight, guardians of Gauge)
• a team-up between flying teams (MLP's Wonderbolts and TF's Seekers)
• a showdown between "Western" characters (MLP's Applejack and TF's Wildwheel)
• a team-up between musical characters (MLP's Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody and TF's Soundwave)
• a team-up between characters who are into beauty (MLP's Rarity, a fashion designer, and TF's Knock Out, a cosmetic surgeon)
• a team-up between reptiles (MLP's Spike and Smolder, both dragons, and TF's Dinobots)

MLP continuity seem to be pretty firmly rooted in the tv show's season 9, but the TF continuity-- as is usually the case for a lot of these crossovers-- seems to be based on the 1980s cartoon in its general precepts, but freely pulls characters and concepts from other continuities. (Arcie and Greenlight are from IDW's 2019-present ongoing, Wildwheel is from the 2018-present Cyberverse cartoon, Knock Out is from IDW's old 2005-18 continuity.)

from My Little Pony/Transformers #2
(script by Ian Flynn, art by Priscilla Tramontano)

They're all by different creative teams, and I liked some better than others, but I think literally every story had one great moment. The opener had an excellent Unicron gag; I loved Scootaloo zooming in on a Transformer scooter with a bunch of "kid" Autobots; the bit where Starscream expects everyone to cheer for him but instead they cheer for Rainbow Dash was perfectly done; Knock Out insisting that Rarity needed to see the beauty of Cybertron was a surprisingly good grace note, and Knock Out's speech about his love for fellow Decepticon Breakdown was pretty cute; and who wouldn't love Vinyl Scratch using Soundwave as her own sound system? Last time the finale was pretty perfunctory, but this time it has some good gags, too: the Mane Six are given exo-suits that let them transform, and Pinkie Pie's wondering what she'll turn into is fun, as is her delight at what she does become (yielded by Megatron, no less!). Starscream's last line is perfect.

I had two particular favorites. One was "One-Trick Pony" (from issue #2, by Sam Maggs and Trish Forstner), the Western-styled showdown between Applejack and Wildwheel. I didn't know Wildwheel (I've never seen Cyberverse), but this was a perfect Western pastiche, and it read brilliantly.

from My Little Pony/Transformers #4
(script by Ian Flynn, art by Casey W. Coller)

The other was, like last time, the Spike/Dinobot team-up (from issue #4, by Ian Flynn and Casey W. Coller). This just had a lot of good jokes, as Grimlock and Spike struggle to explain to the other Dinobots what makes Spike so cool. "Friend-Spike can fly, too!" "I'm... still learning, to be honest." "Him learning to fly! Him dragon! Breath fire, too!" "M-mostly to send correspondence..." "Telecomm fire!" But of course Spike comes through with the magic of friendship when they have to battle a combiner.

Are these comics great art? Well, I don't know, but they're certainly great comics. Like, what else could you want from them? I will definitely be here for any third volume. (That said, I think Transformation Is Magic would have been a much better subtitle.)

The Magic of Cybertron was originally published in issues #1-4 of My Little Pony/Transformers (Apr.-July 2021). The story was written by James Asmus (#1, 3-4), Sam Maggs (#1-2), Ian Flynn (#2, 4), and Tony Fleecs (#3); illustrated by Jack Lawrence (#1, 4), Casey W. Coller (#1, 4), Priscilla Tramontano (#2-3), Trish Forstner (#2), and Tony Fleecs (#3); colored by Luis Antonio Delgado (#1-4),  Joana Lafuente (#1-2, 4), and Tony Fleecs (#3), with flats by Lauren Perry (#3); lettered by Jake M. Wood and Neil Uyetake; and edited by Megan Brown.

Review: Transformers: Lost Light: Crucible by James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, Brendan Cahill, et al.

The Lost Light might have accomplished the goal of their quest (kind of) in The Everlasting Voices, but that doesn't mean the story was over. There's still the mysterious Grand Architect out there, and what were Drift's visions of, and hey, doesn't Getaway still control the Lost Light? All that and more needs to be reckoned with in Crucible, which at six parts is I think the longest story in the history of More than Meets the Eye/Lost Light.

It's one of those stories that at times becomes too epic for its own good. The best MtMtE storylines turned on the characters: okay, so Overlord was in the basement and wasn't that neat, but what really made his attack noteworthy was the way all the characters reacted to it, and the emotions that engendered in the reader. Crucible is pretty epic, and it has a lot of answers to provide, but the questions weren't ones I was particularly burning to know. Like who is the Grand Architect? It turns out I didn't particularly care; the characters are what carried me through all these issues, not the mythology.

So the best moments of Crucible are those based on character. Rodimus finally getting his showdown with Getaway, but then stepping into the flames to rescue him and being restored to his original paintjob in the process was an awesome moment. Megatron making his comeback from the Functionist universe, having spent centuries trying to redeem himself but still feeling unredeemed was a perfect use of the character, especially when he reconciles with Rodimus and Ultra Magnus (who previously thought Megatron bailed on them).

The second-best moment of the whole story was probably when the crew splits up, and a whole group of different characters each have to open the Matrix of Leadership, which is morality locked. The group of characters selected to do this is great (Swerve, Tailgate, Ratchet, Nautica with Brainstorm, and so on), and the speech Rodimus gives to enable them to make the final pulls is heartwarming. I've grown to love these characters, and this was an excellent way for James Roberts to highlight that.

The best moment is the true revelation of what's the deal with Rung, but I won't spoil that for you here.

So those character moments are great, and there are some epic sequences, but I found the explanations behind the Grand Architect, the Warren, and all that jazz much less compelling than the character stuff it enabled. But compare this to some of the classic MtMtE stories, and I think the ratio of character-to-plot was better in those, probably because Roberts just had to get through so much plot in six issues. (I think Lost Light was originally supposed to last twice as long?)

There's also the final Lost Light story, "How To Say Goodbye and Mean It: Part 2." This is hard to talk about without spoiling, but I thought it was mostly spectacular. The story is set many years after Crucible, with the Lost Light crew reunited for the funeral of a friend. In dialogue and flashbacks, we learn what all the main characters have been up to in the intervening time: Rodimus and Minimus Ambus and Megatron and Brainwave and Nautica and Whirl and so on.

I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, and James Roberts does it very well, giving a mix of happy and tragic afterlives for these characters. This has been, after all, a series about damaged people, and "How To Say Goodbye" doesn't shy away from that. Some of these people never did get over the psychological effects of the war. There are tons of "awwwww....." moments here.

At the same time, I'm a sucker for those kind of endings that don't end, the kind of endings that just tell us "and the adventure continues!" The best part of this issue is that James Roberts comes up with a way to do that too. The story ends, but the story never ends.

On the day Lost Light #25 finally came out, I told my class I couldn't hang around after class because I had to get to the comic book store. "What are you going to do there?" one asked. "Buy comic books!" I answered. "So you don't have to get there," one said. I explained that I did because the final issue of a comic book series I really liked was coming out. They asked what it was, and I replied that it was a Transformers comic... and that I seriously, without sarcasm, believed it was one of the best comic books ever written.

I stand by that. Between them, More than Meets the Eye and Lost Light provided (arguably) one hundred issues of entertainment. In terms of building characters, creating tragedies, and telling jokes, I have never read a comic book series this good. It made me cry more than once, and made me laugh an absurd amount, too. It wasn't perfect, but I loved almost every issue of it. The whole reason I started reading IDW's Transformers comics was to get to More than Meets the Eye, because everything I had read about it told me I would like it. I did like it, and it was work well worth out.

This was a fitting ending, and I look forward to rereading the series at some point; I suspect it will be even better now that I'm better at reading Transformers comics, and now that I can understand all the hints about where it will go.

Next Week: Nothing! Be back whenever I get around to reviewing the digital collection of Unicron, which isn't out until March.

Crucible originally appeared in issues #19-24 of Transformers: Lost Light (June-Sept. 2018). The story was written by James Roberts; illustrated by E. J. Su (#19), Casey W. Coller (#20), Jack Lawrence (#21, 23), and Brendan Cahill (#22, 24); colored by Joana Lafuente; lettered by Tom B. Long; and edited by David Mariotte.

"How To Say Goodbye and Mean It: Part 2" originally appeared in issue #25 of Transformers: Lost Light (Oct. 2018). The story was written by James Roberts, illustrated by Jack Lawrence, colored by Joana Lafuente, lettered by Tom B. Long, and edited by David Mariotte.

Review: Transformers, Volume 10 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, Livio Ramondelli, Priscilla Tramontano, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2016 (contents: 2016)
Acquired and read January 2018

Transformers, Volume 10

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith, Casey W. Coller, Livio Ramondelli, and Priscilla Tramontano
Additional Inks by Jamie Snell
Colors by Josh Burcham, John-Paul Bove, Josh Perez, Joana Lafuente, and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry

In this volume (which has "All Hail Optimus" on the cover, but not the title page, but finally does drop "The" from the title page even though it disappeared from the cover with volume 7), Optimus Prime essentially annexes the Earth in order to protect it from Galvatron, bringing it into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds that was established in Windblade: Distant Stars.

This could be interesting. People wonder if Optimus is doing the right thing, or if he's turning into a conqueror like the Primes of old; Camiens, on the other hand, wonder if Optimus is really a Prime after all, given that he no longer bears the Matrix.

At no point in reading a Transformers comic have I ever thought, Thank God they added yet another combiner.
from Transformers vol. 2 #53 (art by Priscilla Tramontano)

But what happens? Does the story examine this stuff? Instead, Optimus stands around in a desert a lot, reacts to what the humans are doing, and the whole thing ends with (what feels like) the one millionth fight with Galvatron, who in his brief run as this series's principal villain, has already been around too long. Plus it just feels like Barber is shifting gears to set up for the next storyline (Titans Return), even though this one never actually took off!

That's right, Prowl. Do nothing. Nothing at all.
from Transformers vol. 2 #50 (art by Andrew Griffith)

At the beginning I was worried that Prowl was going to be in it, but thank God it just turns out to be a one-issue cameo.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... Windblade learns that there are lot of challenges to be overcome Till All Are One!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 6 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2014 (contents: 2014)
Acquired March 2015
Read July 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 6

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Flashback Art by Guido Guidi, Brendan Cahill, and Casey W. Coller
Colors by Josh Perez
Flashback Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long

I guess that what I have to admit is that I actually don't find the original premise of The Transformers terribly compelling in most of its iterations. Like, Transformers in giant space epics: awesome, but Transformers hiding on Earth from humans who can't tell the moral difference between Autobots and Decepticons: tedious. Furman put a nice new spin on it in Infiltration, but most of the time, I get tired of the Autobots having to plan their actions around really dumb humans, like in the 1980s cartoon, or in Bob Budiansky's G1 stories.

Unfortunately, this volume of Robots in Disguise resets the series premise. No longer is it about rebuilding on Cybertron after the end of the Autobot/Decepticon war, but now it's about Autobots and Decepticons back at it, fighting on Earth while looking for... I've already forgotten. Some kind of maguffin. Alpha Trion? Something something combiners? Humans are working with Decepticons now because the Decepticons told them that Megatron (who led the Decepticons when they massacred one billion humans back during All Hail Megatron) is an Autobot now. Does it even make sense that humanity would just take Galvatron's say-so on this? The Decepticons on Earth are a combination of true believers (like Soundwave, who, I'm coming to like) and exploitative cynics (Galvatron, whom it seems implausible that no one sees through). Also part of the problem is that artists hired for their effectiveness at drawing robots are often not great at drawing human beings.

Oh, this genocidal robot showed me a hologram. I bet he can be trusted!
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #29 (art by Guido Guidi)

Oh, and geeze, there's just so much manipulative Prowl stuff it gets tedious. I'm tired of Prowl by this point. Optimus Prime can't be the Greatest Leader of All Time if he can't rein Prown in effectively.

Actual consequences will stop him from doing the wrong thing so much. Instead, you make him Deputy Leader!?
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol 1 #32 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I do really love Thundercracker, the Decepticon who's gone native (to the extent that a Transformer can go native, I guess), binge-watching DVDs and writing screenplays of his own:

I should note that her name is "Susan Journeyer," which is on-the-nose-- but then of course most Transformer names are incredibly on-the-nose.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #28 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I mean, it's not terrible; Barber and Griffith never fall below baseline competence. But it is pretty far from what interests me about Transformers.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... dark forces are moving against Windblade!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 1 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2012)
Acquired August 2014
Read November 2016

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 1

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Additional Art by Casey Coller
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Shawn Lee

While the Lost Light gallivants through space having wacky space adventures, Bumblebee and the other Autobots have to figure out how to rule after the war is over back on Cybertron. The real strength of both these Transformers series is their strong character focus, but each writer takes a different approach to get there. While James Roberts's More than Meets the Eye is all about the dialogue, John Barber in Robots in Disguise uses narration; each issue is narrated in the first person by a different character, giving us a particular perspective on the events unfolding from Bumblebee, Starscream, Wheeljack, Prowl, and Ironhide in turn.

We get murder investigations, terrorist threats, ancient Cybertronian systems coming back to life, assassinations, and political machinations. Probably Starscream was my favorite character here, as he makes the ultimate power play: deciding to genuinely, actually, nicely help the Autobots... so that he can come out on top as always. Also he has a sense of humor, which always helps:

Megatron never cracked jokes this good.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #2 (art by Andrew Griffith)

The real heart of this series is the question of when the war actually ends. Bumblebee is an idealist, and now that the fighting's over, wants to do things without compromising, as ethically as possible-- hence his forming a government that includes representatives for both the Decepticons and the non-aligned Cybertronians. Prowl, on the other hand, doesn't believe that the war can ever end, and is determined to be as cunning and manipulative as ever. Most of the other Autobots are somewhere in the middle, as Wheeljack's narration here indicates:

The ends justify the means... but how do you know when you've actually got to the end?
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #3 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I also really liked the ongoing saga of Dirge, a Decepticon who was abandoned by both sides when he escorted Autobot prisoners across the space bridge during All Hail Megatron and got stuck on Cybertron, where his partner was killed by the Insecticon swarm. He survived alone on Cybertron until the end of the war, and now wants nothing to do with either side, but every attempt he makes to build a new life is doomed to failure. Those he reaches out to die, but going it alone doesn't work either when he's perpetually a victim of others' machinations.

Poor guy.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #4 (art by Andrew Griffith)

This book is not quite as good as the first volume of More than Meets the Eye, mostly because I had a harder time keeping track of all the characters, especially in action scenes, where I had to spend too much time attempt to decode significant events. (Thank God for the Transformers wiki.) I look forward to seeing where this goes, because Barber has the foundation here for a whole new kind of Transformers storytelling.

Next Week: Meanwhile, back in space, the Lost Light discovers the terrors of a space plague that's More than Meets the Eye!

Review: The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 3 by Shane McCarthy et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 122 pages
Published 2009 (contents: 2008-09)
Acquired August 2014
Read August 2016

The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 3

Written by Shane McCarthy, Josh van Reyk and Shawn Knowler, Andy Schmidt
Art by Casey Coller, E. J. Su, Robby Musso, Marcelo Matere
Colors by Joana Lafuente, Priscilla Tramotano
Letters by Neil Uyetake, Chris Mowry

This volume doesn't really follow up the previous two parts of All Hail Megatron, instead it moves backward, filling in some of what we know about its characters, though some of the stories here are about Transformers who don't have anything to do with All Hail Megatron at all. Like any collection of standalone comics, it's a mixed bag.

I liked the tale of Blurr, the narcissist racer who doesn't even notice that society is unraveling around him (as we saw in Autocracy) until it directly impacts his need for speed and his livelihood.

"Have you heard of Our Lord and Savior, Optimus Prime?"
from The Transformers Spotlight: Blurr (script by Shane McCarthy, art by Casey Coller)

The rest were so-so. The story of Jazz is framed as a story told by Tracks during All Hail Megatron to cheer up the Autobots trapped on Cybertron. It's unclear to me where this is supposed to take place, mostly because there's no point where the Autobots are ever cheerful, and besides, it's pretty much an action story that reveals little of character anyway. (Plus I can never remember which one is Jazz.) Cliffjumper's story is also dull, being a stereotypical tale of a soldier from an neverending conflict washing up on an "island" (i.e., planet) and tended to by a loving female native, until the war comes back for him. I know a lot of Transformers fans hate Drift, the Decepticon-turned-Autobot-with-"badass"-swords, and I don't, but his story here didn't win me over.

"AND I HAVE SWORDS!"
from The Transformers Spotlight: Drift (script by Shane McCarthy, art by Casey Coller)

The story of Metroplex is designed to communicate his size with a lot of two-page spreads, which is  neat idea. Unfortunately, the e-version of the story I read split them all in half, really ruining the effect:

This is the right side of a two-page spread, presented as its own page. Seriously, what's going on? Too much work to figure out, sorry.
from The Transformers Spotlight: Metroplex (script by Andy Schmidt, art by Marcelo Matere)

Next Week: It's the final end of All Hail Megatron, with a little bit of Coda!

Review: The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 1 by Shane McCarthy, Guido Guidi, et al.

Another day, another audio drama review: one of my favo[u]rite Doctor-companion teams by one of their best writers in Doctor Who and the Paradox Planet and the Legacy of Death! (It's not really called that.)

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2009 (contents: 2008-09)
Acquired August 2014
Read July 2016

The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 1

Story by Shane McCarthy
Art by Guido Guidi and Casey Coller
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Chris Mowry and Neil Uyetake

I wanted to like this book more than I did. "The Decepticons actually do conquer Earth" is a great premise, and unlike the devoted fans who write articles on the Transformers wiki, I don't really care if the depiction of Cybertron here is consistent with past ones in IDW, or whatever. It's just that: 1) the human military characters dominate the first few chapters of the book, and they are as generic as all get out, like too-hotshot-for-you-I-don't-obey-orders-but-never-get-in-trouble generic, and 2) the Autobots are back to being an indistinguishable mass of non-characters for me when they do turn up, all hanging out on Cybertron and moping, but what's the difference between Prowl and Jazz anyway. I like the idea of a dark situation that reveals these robots' inner characters, but mostly that just turns out to be snarling at each other.

This book was supposed to be a jumping-on point, but no one ever says the name of the guy on the right? What if I wasn't four years old when the G1 cartoon went out? Not much of a jumping-on point, then.
from The Transformers: All Hail Megatron #4 (art by Guido Guidi)

There a just a lot of scenes, on both Earth and Cybertron, that I think are meant to build tension, but just go nowhere, spinning in circles. That Megatron has got hold of the SPOILER is a pretty good twist, though, and the hints we get of philosophical and moral disagreements among the Decepticons now that they've achieved their goals are pretty good, too. I didn't hate this or anything. But what happened here didn't need to occupy six issues, and it should have been better than it was. Guido Guidi is a surprisingly good artist, though-- like E. J. Su, he can make these robots come to life.

C'mon Megatron, genocide should make you happier than this!
from The Transformers: All Hail Megatron #3 (art by Guido Guidi)

Next Week: Time to save the Earth and Cybertron, when the Autobots strike back in All Hail Megatron, Volume 2!