2024 was the 40th anniversary of the Transformers brand, so I figured to celebrate I'd nail down my top twenty favorite Transformers stories of all time (to date!)
We'll start off with two HONORABLE MENTIONS!
Honorable Mention- Eugenesis (2001)
James Roberts’ sprawling 282-page novel (plus various supplemental material) is technically fan fiction, which disqualifies it from the actual list, but this is still one hell of a story. Long before IDW or even Dreamwave had the Transformers comics license, James Roberts produced this masterwork set in the latter years of the larger Marvel continuity (encompassing US, UK, and the ‘86 animated movie in its scope.) If you are unfamiliar with that material, then I wouldn’t suggest taking Eugenesis on. If you are though, well… Eugenesis is still a hard, but rewarding read.
If you don’t enjoy seeing favorite characters being killed, violated or sometimes both, there’s no way you can avoid that in here. At the same time, Roberts still brings the depth, complexity, and warmth that would come to define his official Transformers work over a decade later. Names like Rung, Fulcrum, Quark and more pop up the first time in here, as well as many concepts that Roberts would also utilize in IDW’s More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light books (the deconstruction of Primus most prominently.)
Eugenesis was a test bed, an unsanctioned prototype for what would become some of the most critically-successful Transformers stories of all time. If you want to read pure, uncut Roberts, give this a shot but again… not for the faint of heart.
Honorable Mention- Fall of Cybertron (2012)
This isn’t quite a “story” per se, but more of an experience. Fall of Cybertron is, for my money, the best Transformers video game we’ve had to date. There are other worthy games bearing the brand name, but none have offered so complete and exceptional a gameplay experience as Fall did. Transformable combat in a wide range of modes and settings, which translated pretty well to competitive multiplayer. The feeling of sheer power in playing as a combiner, a Dinobot, or Megatron himself as you tear through lesser enemies with ease. Even something as simple as being able to deploy cassettes as Soundwave during combat is a thrill and a blast. It’s basically a checklist of everything you’ve ever wanted to do in a Transformers game.
The story itself isn’t too shabby, set in the final days before the launch of the Ark and the Nemesis and the Transformers’ arrival on Earth. The game’s atmosphere does a lovely job of conveying the desperation and desolation of these final hours before Optimus Prime and Megatron leave the planet for millions of years. It’s helped along by great voice acting and casting with a few minor exceptions (they really overused Steve Blum) and you’re usually fully-immersed in what’s going on at any given time thanks to the fantastic presentation and set pieces.
It’s truly a tragedy that this game never got a proper sequel (we don’t talk about Rise of the Dark Spark) but hopefully both this game and its predecessor War For Cybertron (also a great game) will see a re-release at some point in the near future.
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And now, the TOP 20 proper!
20. Reign of Starscream (2008)
Let’s face it, the live action movie-verse isn’t known for its deep, complex fiction. If you want something more than shallow big screen spectacle, you have to look at the supplementary tie-in material and Reign of Starscream stands out amongst the chaff. This five-issue mini-series published by IDW and released as a comic book “sequel” of sorts to the first Michael Bay movie dares to ask the question… what if you actually focused on the Transformer characters instead of the humans?
Written by Chris Mowry with fantastically-detailed art by Alex Milne, “Reign” may contain one of my favorite portrayals of any Starscream ever.
If you can get past his Bay-verse design (which I admit, is difficult), what we get here is an excellent character piece that shows exactly what Starscream could do given the reins (and reign) of power. Mowry chooses to portray this Starscream (at the time a virtual blank slate of a character) as a deadly and competent warrior forced to serve a flawed leader. Considering Megatron’s obsessive, foolish actions and pathetic “death” in the first Bay movie, a reader can completely get behind this version of his second-in-command.
Starscream carves out his vision for the Decepticons and is ultimately undone not by his own failings, but outside forces beyond his control. He’s forced to contend with a persistent Autobot resistance cell led by Arcee (in an equally-compelling deuteragonist role) and eventually his very own treacherous “Starscream” in the ranks.
It’s a real shame that this charismatic, driven version of Bay-verse Starscream only ever existed in Chris Mowry’s writings, as subsequent movies chose to portray the character as a cowardly sycophant once Megatron returned. Alex Milne’s hyper-detailed art is perfectly suited for the complicated Bay-verse designs and he even manages to wring convincing emotion out of some of those ugly faces. I wanted to represent the live action movies in this list somehow, and “Reign” is easily the best story I’ve ever read from that continuity that earns that on its own merits.
19. Endgame (Animated Season 3, 2009)
The two-part series finale of Transformers: Animated is a satisfying cap-off and yet somehow also leaves you with the feeling that this show had so much more gas in its tank when it ended. For the most part, Animated kept its scope relatively small, focusing on a smaller cast dealing with bigger and bigger issues as time wore on. It’s a formula that Beast Wars originated and several other subsequent Transformers shows after this would adopt as well. This two-parter continues that trend with our underdog heroes being forced to contend with threats that in theory, should be way above their weight class. However, they pull through and succeed through teamwork, determination, and self-sacrifice.
This finale is everything a finale should be, with equal doses of drama, comedy, action, and tragedy. Optimus Prime wielding the Magnus Hammer against three Omega Supreme-class enemies and taking on Megatron in a final battle, Bumblebee and Bulkhead confronting their treacherous old boot camp buddy Longarm/Shockwave, Sari learning of her potential origin, and Prowl’s heroic sacrifice to restore the AllSpark… just some of the standout sequences in here.
My favorite scene however, is the final one as the Autobots return to Cybertron to the well-deserved accolades of their homeworld, with Sentinel Prime glowering at them from the crowd as a perfect chef’s kiss. As seen above, it’s an epic and touching ending to a show that might have had more to say, but still said plenty enough to earn its spot as a fan-beloved series.
18. Quintesson Arc (Cyberverse Season 3, episodes 5-17, 2020)
(Art by Andrew Griffith, commissioned by Derek Crabbe- https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1680625)
Cyberverse was a different kind of Transformers cartoon than we had before up to that point, particularly in terms of pacing and presentation. With only ten minute installments to cater to the “ADHD” generation of kids who would rather digest media through their phones than television, Cyberverse’s stories usually moved at a brisk pace and left little room to waste time. That didn’t stop the creative team from doing long-form, serialized plots and the Quintesson arc that ran through season 3 is considered by many to be the peak of Cyberverse’s run.
The Quintessons invade Cybertron and render nearly the entire population docile by plugging them into a Matrix-like (the Wackowski Matrix, not THE Matrix) looped simulation. It comes down to Hot Rod and his team of the few Transformers that remain free to liberate the others and end the Quintesson occupation.
The Quintessons invade Cybertron and render nearly the entire population docile by plugging them into a Matrix-like (the Wackowski Matrix, not THE Matrix) looped simulation. It comes down to Hot Rod and his team of the few Transformers that remain free to liberate the others and end the Quintesson occupation.
There’s so much in this epic twelve-installment saga to enjoy, from Hot Rod’s struggle to free the pacified Transformers from “The Loop” all the way to an epic battle between two city-sized Titans near the climax. It’s really quite impressive how much is packed in here and the wide span of dramatic tones that are effortlessly shifted between. Violent deaths and epic battles are inter-cut with Hot Rod and Soundwave being trapped in a simulation where they’re forced to infinitely scrub a floor free of rust.
The story is almost a more kid-friendly version of Eugenesis, although Hot Rod manages to be more than a “Weekend at Roddy’s” plot device in this version. His time in the spotlight and his burgeoning camaraderie with Soundwave will delight any fans of the character, and most of the rest of the cast still shine and get their moments. By the end of its run, Cyberverse managed to eclipse Animated in my ranking of favorite Transformers cartoons (Animated still ranks at a respectable fourth place.) Cyberverse took its spot thanks in no small part to fun, bold storytelling like this that left nothing on the field when it concluded.
17. The Battle Of The Star Gate (2003)
A somewhat obscure pick, this is Naoto Tsushima’s manga story that ran four installments in the Japanese publication Super Robot Magazine and has yet to be officially published in Western markets (although there’s fan translations out there, obviously.) I first encountered it as extremely rough scanlations of the individual issues in 2005, although there is a much better quality scan/translation of the collected edition ‘round the net these days.
I found this at a time I was kind of desperate for any Transformers comics because Dreamwave had very recently imploded and IDW had yet to begin their run with the license. Not to say this isn’t quality, because it very much is, but this story was also like water in a desert to me at the time.
Naoto Tsushima produces a solid tale, story and art, of this “forgotten adventure” that (in theory) takes place between season 2 of the original Sunbow cartoon and the ‘86 movie. If you want to get really wacky with Japanese continuity, it is also supposed to explain how Car Robots/RID fits into G1 continuity, as all the Transformers on Earth go missing at the end of this tale, allowing for Fire Convoy and Gigatron’s groups to have their scuffle uninterrupted by well… EVERYONE ELSE.
Naoto Tsushima produces a solid tale, story and art, of this “forgotten adventure” that (in theory) takes place between season 2 of the original Sunbow cartoon and the ‘86 movie. If you want to get really wacky with Japanese continuity, it is also supposed to explain how Car Robots/RID fits into G1 continuity, as all the Transformers on Earth go missing at the end of this tale, allowing for Fire Convoy and Gigatron’s groups to have their scuffle uninterrupted by well… EVERYONE ELSE.
Whether or not you buy that, this is still a fun standalone adventure with kinetic visuals and surprisingly complex characterization. The interplay between Megatron and Starscream is particularly good here (“Don’t be in such a rush, you’ll still die young, Starscream”), and all the other characters that feature heavily are carefully chosen for their specific personalities and talents.
I often joke that the Machinima Combiner Wars cartoon bit off this story to produce its far inferior plot. This story also ends with Megatron and Optimus teaming up to defeat a super-powered monstrous giant Starscream. However, as you can clearly see from the above image, “Star Gate” pulls it off with so much more hot-blooded style and impact. Naoto Tsushima would go on to draw various other Transformers manga and even some comics in the West, and I really do dig the energy he lends to every image.
16. Crisis of Command! (Marvel UK #42-44, 1985)
This three-part Marvel UK story is considered an early classic by many fans and shockingly enough, ISN’T written by Simon Furman! Mike Collins and James Hill craft a story set in the aftermath of Optimus Prime’s tenure as a disembodied head and Shockwave’s prisoner. The US material kept truckin’ on to new things, but the UK comic was in a position to “mind the gap” as it were and showed readers the psychological impact of Prime’s ordeal. As Prime struggles with his own self-doubt, he also must contend with a debate in the Autobot ranks about whether to use the Creation Matrix to spawn an army of “Ultimate Autobots” and wipe out the Decepticons in one strike.
On the side of “UNLEASH THE KILLER ROBOTS” is Prowl, in perhaps his first role ever as the logical and ruthless “ends justify the means” guy. In fact, you could say this story is the genesis of “Prick Prowl”, who Simon Furman and others will take the baton and run with in many future stories. While perhaps an unfavorable portrayal of my favorite character, I can’t deny that it always added complexity and conflict into the Autobot ranks. It’s not like Prowl is proven WRONG exactly either, despite his Ultimate Autobot plans being Ultimately Aborted by the end of this story. It won’t be long after this before Hasbr- I MEAN Optimus Prime decides to use the Creation Matrix to birth the Special Teams and escalate conflict on Earth anyway.
On the side of “UNLEASH THE KILLER ROBOTS” is Prowl, in perhaps his first role ever as the logical and ruthless “ends justify the means” guy. In fact, you could say this story is the genesis of “Prick Prowl”, who Simon Furman and others will take the baton and run with in many future stories. While perhaps an unfavorable portrayal of my favorite character, I can’t deny that it always added complexity and conflict into the Autobot ranks. It’s not like Prowl is proven WRONG exactly either, despite his Ultimate Autobot plans being Ultimately Aborted by the end of this story. It won’t be long after this before Hasbr- I MEAN Optimus Prime decides to use the Creation Matrix to birth the Special Teams and escalate conflict on Earth anyway.
The way this story stands out for me the most, however, is that it’s Geoff Senior’s first sequential art on a Transformers comic. Geoff Senior would come to be my favorite Transformers comic artist of all time, and his striking work here on the first two installments of “Crisis” are a mere preview of future glories. The third part is drawn by John Stokes who, while not as memorable as Senior, also puts in some great work. Of particular note for Stokes is the badass scene where Optimus Prime punches Starscream so hard his wings fly off!
15. The War Within (Volume 1, 2002)
My first, but certainly not last Simon Furman story on this list is the first volume (six issues plus a preview story) of The War Within. Conceived as a sort of bedrock for the then-new Dreamwave G1 continuity, it was announced to massive hype among the fanbase thanks to Furman’s return to the fold (although he had never really left, really) and Don Figueroa’s preview art.
Figueroa was a MUCH better artist than chief Dreamwave frontman (and conman) Pat Lee, and his dedication and love for the franchise shone through in the work. Figueroa set a standard that is followed to this day, that when you did a story set in the pre-Earth days of Transformers, you HAD to redesign practically everyone with Cybertronian bodies and alt-modes.
Simon Furman also brought his A-game back, attacking Dreamwave’s near-blank canvas with a passion and flair not seen since Generation 2. The chance to actually build a Transformers continuity from the ground-up (which Furman had never done at that point) seemed to energize him after years of mostly only managing to contribute to the fringes of Beast Wars era stories. He couldn’t resist putting his pet favorite Grimlock back in the spotlight of course, but there were few complaints in the face of the enthusiasm of this creative team. The first G1 mini-series and even Armada’s first few issues may have sold more copies, but War Within got all the critical praise from that first batch of Dreamwave offerings.
Simon Furman also brought his A-game back, attacking Dreamwave’s near-blank canvas with a passion and flair not seen since Generation 2. The chance to actually build a Transformers continuity from the ground-up (which Furman had never done at that point) seemed to energize him after years of mostly only managing to contribute to the fringes of Beast Wars era stories. He couldn’t resist putting his pet favorite Grimlock back in the spotlight of course, but there were few complaints in the face of the enthusiasm of this creative team. The first G1 mini-series and even Armada’s first few issues may have sold more copies, but War Within got all the critical praise from that first batch of Dreamwave offerings.
Granted, I think the ending of this first volume fizzles out a bit (Prime and Megs magically get amnesia and Wheeljack fires a plot-shutting-off missile??) but the overall product still stands strong. Origin tales for Optimus Prime and stories set in a pre-war era have made it all the way to the big screen nowadays, but at the time “War Within” was still a pretty uncommon idea. There’s a lot in here that influences future stuff beyond Dreamwave’s curtailed continuity and Don Figueroa’s art is still a gold standard to which many aspire. You can see the cracks of a newbie pro comic artist in here for sure, but it’s still incredibly good for a first outing and has certainly aged better than even the best that Pat Lee ever offered.
14. Transformers VS G.I.Joe (Issues #1-13 + Movie Adaptation, 2014)
Here’s a “love it or hate it” entry. Tom Scioli (with a co-writing assist from John Barber) channels the spirit of Jack Kirby to craft a crossover tale in the style of a bygone era of comic books. One might need to “shift lanes” a bit at first to enjoy this crazy ride, but once done, the reader’s inner child will hopefully be unlocked. The sheer imaginative logic of that inner child will guide you through a real labor of love and nostalgia. Sure, it’s something of an exaggeration of that era of storytelling, but that’s where most of the fun comes from!
Scioli and Barber mash up familiar concepts from both Transformers and G.I. Joe, fusing them together into something new, but ultimately recognizable. Story conceits like Destro and Megatron forming an instant kinship (an arms dealer and a literal living gun that both have to deal with Chris Latta’s antics) or Ultra Magnus serving as a vessel through which a resplendently-white Optimus Prime is reborn just make perfect sense in this world. The entire run is filled to bursting with the ingenious and pure creativity that so many in this world have lost forever and are too embittered to try and regain.
Scioli even added an addendum to the series with a one-shot that serves as a movie adaptation of the entire story and also chronicles the making of said movie in its backmatter. Think about this for a second; It’s a comic adaptation… of a fake movie… that was based off a comic book! That’s the kind of beautiful circuitous absurdity that Scioli revels in with this series and you either get on board with it or get out of the way.
Scioli and Barber mash up familiar concepts from both Transformers and G.I. Joe, fusing them together into something new, but ultimately recognizable. Story conceits like Destro and Megatron forming an instant kinship (an arms dealer and a literal living gun that both have to deal with Chris Latta’s antics) or Ultra Magnus serving as a vessel through which a resplendently-white Optimus Prime is reborn just make perfect sense in this world. The entire run is filled to bursting with the ingenious and pure creativity that so many in this world have lost forever and are too embittered to try and regain.
Scioli even added an addendum to the series with a one-shot that serves as a movie adaptation of the entire story and also chronicles the making of said movie in its backmatter. Think about this for a second; It’s a comic adaptation… of a fake movie… that was based off a comic book! That’s the kind of beautiful circuitous absurdity that Scioli revels in with this series and you either get on board with it or get out of the way.
13. Worlds Collide (Armada #14-17, 2003)
The Armada cartoon, while wildly successful with its targeted age range of 6-12 year-olds, did little to appeal to a world-weary teenager like me. Its consistently weak, error-ridden animation and English dub scripts made even the worst Sunbow cartoon episodes look like Shakespeare. Thankfully, the Dreamwave Armada comic was around to provide a much more satisfying narrative surrounding this incarnation of Transformers. The treatment of the central-to-the-plot Mini-Cons was far superior in the comic compared to the cartoon, as in… they were actual characters and not glorified Pokemon. After 13 issues of Mini-Con-heavy plots, “Worlds Collide” was conceived as an epic transition into the next era of the franchise.
“Worlds Collide” suffers criticism from some corners of the fandom, who accuse it of abandoning the more personal focus on Mini-Con oppression by the larger Transformers. In its place comes something writer Simon Furman was always champing at the bit to build up to; epic crises that involve alternate realities and chaos gods. Valid criticism, sure, but the fact of the matter is Furman is damned GOOD at raising the stakes while not losing too much focus on the characters. “Worlds Collide” succeeds in that, pitting the cast against the newly-arrived heralds of Unicron and ultimately showing why the Armada universe can stand on its own against what came before. This story is also graced by the art of Don Figueroa, fresh off the War Within, who lends it all his considerable talent.
I’ll never forget where I was when I first read issue #16 in particular, and was rendered slack-jawed when Armada Megatron pulled off an underdog win against an incarnation of G1 Galvatron. It was a brilliant swerve on Furman’s part, utilizing the unique element of that universe (Mini-Cons) to grant Megatron his victory and simultaneously play with the fans’ expectations.
Some may complain that the G1 cameos included here are meaningless fanservice, but frankly I was just happy at the time to see characters I thought would never be revisited again, like Thunderwing and Bludgeon. If I ever feel the need to revisit the Armada era of fiction, I’ll always choose the Dreamwave comics over the cartoon. They did so much better in a comparatively more Mini-Con-sized space.
12. Starscream: The Movie (Optimus Prime Annual 2018)
One of the best parts of IDW’s original Transformers continuity was the character development of Thundercracker. He debuted in the very first story as a faithful Decepticon soldier and ended in the very last story as a Hollywood filmmaker with a pet dog! It makes perfect sense if you follow the progression over thirteen years of stories, and Thundercracker’s journey towards becoming a fully fleshed-out and rather delightful character was at its best under writer John Barber.
In this Annual one-shot of the “Optimus Prime” ongoing comic (Optimus Prime, funnily enough, barely features in this story), Thundercracker is offered the opportunity to craft a bio-pic about Starscream, the then-ruler of Cybertron. After years spent on Earth (and consuming its media), Thundercracker believes his shot at making it in Hollywood has finally come and takes the job.
Thundercracker’s efforts to make the film become a hilarious satire on script writing, film-making, and storytelling in general. His earnest drive to be creative is constantly undercut by his tone-deaf lack of taste and inexperience with the movie-making process. On a personal level, it reminded me of my own early attempts to create “cinema” in my youth, so a lot of the gags here really resonated. “Starscream: The Movie” basically becomes the Transformers equivalent of “The Room”, with Thundercracker as the oblivious Tommy Wiseau.
Through it all, you’re always on Thundercracker’s side though, as he still possesses more self-awareness than Tommy Wiseau did. His constant canine companion Buster (based on John Barber’s own dog) and long-suffering human friend Marissa Faireborn are always there to serve as muses or boost TC’s spirits when he’s low. Their affection for the big blue goon is easily latched onto and mirrored by the reader.
This Annual is drawn by Priscilla Tramontano (with the exception of a few flashback pages from Andrew Griffith), whose energetic, animated style suits this kind of lighthearted tale to a T(hundercracker). That said, there is a moment of true peril when Thundercracker is nearly assassinated by agents of Starscream, who has seen the finished film and now doesn’t want it released. It’s always harrowing to see cute little Buster in serious danger, and Tramontano hits that mark as well. I’ve always been a fan of John Barber’s writing because it speaks to my own personal sensibilities in storytelling. He got to deconstruct the craft itself here to great comedic effect and this issue will always remain one of the funniest Transformers stories ever in my eyes.
This Annual is drawn by Priscilla Tramontano (with the exception of a few flashback pages from Andrew Griffith), whose energetic, animated style suits this kind of lighthearted tale to a T(hundercracker). That said, there is a moment of true peril when Thundercracker is nearly assassinated by agents of Starscream, who has seen the finished film and now doesn’t want it released. It’s always harrowing to see cute little Buster in serious danger, and Tramontano hits that mark as well. I’ve always been a fan of John Barber’s writing because it speaks to my own personal sensibilities in storytelling. He got to deconstruct the craft itself here to great comedic effect and this issue will always remain one of the funniest Transformers stories ever in my eyes.
11. Five Faces of Darkness (1986)
Before “Eugenesis” and Cyberverse Season 3 and even “Space Pirates”, the celebrated Marvel UK tale featuring the Quintessons as the main antagonists, we get this five-parter- the OG Quintesson invasion story. “Five Faces” is basically the sequel to Transformers: The Movie and that’s how I was literally exposed to it initially. Transformers was off the air by the time I was old enough to discern which cartoons I liked the best and so my first animated exposure to it was mostly through the later F.H.E. (Family Home Entertainment) VHS releases.
These tapes were a regular rental for me whenever my parents took me to our local video store and provided me with a sort of movie “quadrilogy” of sorts for Transformers. There was “More Than Meets The Eye”, the opening three-parter of the Sunbow cartoon and of course, Transformers: The Movie. Then there was “Five Faces” as the third “movie” and “Return of Optimus Prime” to close out the series. For years before the original cartoon started repeating on the Sci-Fi Channel and being repackaged as Generation 2, this was the way I mainly experienced the animated adventures of the Transformers. I’ll never forget the cover of the “Five Faces of Darkness” VHS, as you can see above, since it featured Powermaster Optimus Prime and Action Master Mainframe, two toys that did not feature AT ALL in the actual story!
Speaking of the story, while “Five Faces” doesn’t retain the high production values of the movie, the high stakes and serious themes are maintained. This five-parter establishes so much lore, characterization, and the overall tone for the rest of the show’s third season. Rodimus Prime, Galvatron, Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus and the rest of the spotlighted cast make strong impressions that will inform their portrayals for the rest of the series and beyond even the cartoon continuity.
Of course, the Quintessons themselves are expanded on from their comparatively-limited role in The Movie into a third faction beyond the Autobots and Decepticons that will plague both sides of the war. The Quintessons don’t really possess the physical clout they have in other, previously-mentioned stories, but they make do with craftiness, deceit and a more personal connection to the Transformers than in any other continuity.
Of course, these episodes are also infamous for suffering the animation studio AKOM’s lackluster attention, but still manage to make an impact despite that noticeable handicap. The richness of the voice-acting performances, the score, the writing, and the world-building here really carry “Five Faces of Darkness” and elevate it to one of the finest multi-part episode sagas in ALL of Transformers animation.
Of course, these episodes are also infamous for suffering the animation studio AKOM’s lackluster attention, but still manage to make an impact despite that noticeable handicap. The richness of the voice-acting performances, the score, the writing, and the world-building here really carry “Five Faces of Darkness” and elevate it to one of the finest multi-part episode sagas in ALL of Transformers animation.
10. Beast Wars: Uprising (2014-2016)
The Mainframe-produced Beast Wars series is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Transformers animated fiction. This is a blessing and a curse, because about 90% of Beast Wars-centric ancillary fiction makes sure to keep the cartoon’s canon inviolate, trying to tell stories at its corners and in its gaps. When IDW attempted their own rebooted Beast Wars continuity in 2021 with a new comic it basically remixed the story of the cartoon into… something that was pretty middling and a lateral move at best. Fortunately, there exists a Beast Wars series that is not beholden to the Mainframe cartoon and was free to indulge and explore that corner of the Transformers universe with fresher eyes and a broader canvas.
“Beast Wars: Uprising” is a series of twelve prose stories (plus a few tie-in comic side-stories and additional text) published largely by the now-defunct but then-official Transformers Collectors’ Club beginning in 2014. A prequel comic story of sorts titled “Alone Together” was printed in the Collectors’ Club magazine from issues #55-60, which introduced readers to the Protoform X and Trans-Mutate of this alternate timeline. The following year would see regular online releases of the prose stories, all which told tales of the Uprising universe through various characters and viewpoints.
While most stories were not directly connected to each other, continuity was still strong and the range of characters spanned from notables like Lio Convoy and Hot Rod, to obscures like Buzzclaw and Stiletto. Principle creators Jim Sorenson and David Bishop (with S. Trent Troop, Greg Sepelak, Pete Sinclair, and Jesse Wittenrich also originating the comic material) crafted a dystopian Beast Wars-era world where the Maximals and Predacons fought against the oppressive regime of their forefathers- the surviving Autobots and Decepticons now called “The Builders of Cybertron”.
“Beast Wars meets The Hunger Games” is “Uprising” in a nutshell, but it quickly evolves beyond that as the Builder/Resistance war eventually gives rise to an even greater evil. One of the things I enjoyed most about the universe of “Uprising” were all the references to what came before, to a tragic history of intergalactic war and conflict that led the planet Cybertron to its current pitiful state. The world-building is incredible here, as Sorenson and Bishop pull from the most obscure depths of Transformers lore to add weighty context and deep color to their universe.
My favorite stories over the run of “Uprising” include the aforementioned “Alone Together” (featuring art by none other than “Battle of the Star Gate” Naoto Tsushima), “Head Games” (featuring the unlikely Buzzclaw as protagonist), “Micro-Aggressions” (pitting BW-era Hot Rod and Grimlock against each other), and “Identity Politics” (a “Breaking Bad”-esque origin tale for the BW Megatron of this universe). The epic finale “Derailment” is also a nail-biting page-turner, featuring the entire planet combating a veritable Vehicon Apocalypse.
9. More Than Meets The Eye (1984)
Here’s a sheer nostalgia pick; the opening three-parter of the Sunbow cartoon, as scripted by George Arthur Bloom. This was the first “ground floor” Transformers media I ever experienced, having only seen the episodes “Fire in the Sky” and “Divide and Conquer” first and read some early Marvel comics (but not the first four issues) at that point. “More Than Meets The Eye” was my origin tale for Transformers and its F.H.E. VHS release was a regular rental for me as a child. The tape contained all three episodes, unlike most of the other F.H.E. releases of the first season which only contained an episode a piece. It was more viewing bang for my parents’ buck and kept me distracted longer on weekends!
The plot is thin and straightforward, the characterization is pretty on-the-nose, and the dialogue fairly generic. What really elevates “More Than Meets The Eye” (and indeed much of the Sunbow cartoon itself) is the memorable and dedicated voice-acting directed by the perfectionist-to-a-fault Wally Burr, searing all these characters into young, malleable minds.
The plot is thin and straightforward, the characterization is pretty on-the-nose, and the dialogue fairly generic. What really elevates “More Than Meets The Eye” (and indeed much of the Sunbow cartoon itself) is the memorable and dedicated voice-acting directed by the perfectionist-to-a-fault Wally Burr, searing all these characters into young, malleable minds.
Megatron and Starscream’s dynamic throughout is a highlight as Frank Welker and Chris Latta’s performances completely sell their fractious and complex relationship. I remember jumping as a kid every time Optimus Prime angrily screamed “MEGA-TROOOOONNN!!!” and then shouted at Sideswipe for his rocket pack. After Peter Cullen had infused Prime with such effortless warmth and heroism, hearing that was like hearing your dad losing his cool. Even as a five year-old, I could tell SHIT WAS GETTING REAL.
Virtually the entire cast gets at least one moment to shine (except Windcharger, he just gets to strip) and it’s very easy to choose your favorite characters from this initial line-up. The animation is quite good for this opener, as well it should be, even if the usual gaffes expected from 80s cartoons are still evident. There’s so much here that lays the groundwork for the franchise and is still mined today for current incarnations of Transformers. It’s very hard to approach these episodes objectively and divorced from nostalgia and foundation, and I still can’t help enjoying the heck out of revisiting “More Than Meets The Eye” as an adult.
8. MTMTE “Season 1” (“Chaos Theory”, “The Death of Optimus Prime”, MTMTE #1-#22, MTMTE Annual 2012, 2011-2013)
We go from a formative “More Than Meets The Eye” to a transformative “More Than Meets The Eye” here, with the first “season” of James Roberts’ epic comics run. Beginning with the two-part unofficial “prequel” story “Chaos Theory” that Roberts wrote in the previous IDW ongoing series, then into the one-shot “The Death of Optimus Prime” co-written with John Barber, and finally into the series proper all the way up until the big crossover event “Dark Cybertron”. “MTMTE”, as it is widely known, was the face of a bold new era of storytelling in the IDW comics.
Sometimes it’s a bad idea to give a writer who is “too close” to the material the keys to the car, but other times it’s exactly what’s needed. James Roberts was the polar opposite of Mike Costa, the previous flagship writer on the Transformers titles. He was immersed in the deepest-cut lore, understood the characters and the franchise itself perfectly, and wasn’t obviously wishing he was writing G.I. Joe instead. Oh, and he once wrote a 282-page Transformers novel in his spare time for free (see “Eugenesis”, earlier on this list!)
The first “season” of MTMTE represents to me what is almost the tail end of an era in my comic book reading hobby. It was a book that I went to the store for, bought a copy and then immediately ran to my car and READ RIGHT THERE IN THE PARKING LOT, as opposed to the digital-only approach I take now. I was that excited for the next installment and Roberts and artist Alex Milne (with some very able fill-ins at times) produced consecutive bangers every month for a good long while.
John Barber’s sister book “Robots in Disguise” was also a solid production, but it couldn’t compete with the fire that MTMTE ignited in the fandom. It was just an exciting book to follow month-to-month, as Roberts effortlessly made the readership laugh, cry, wonder, and speculate on every little precise detail he’d weave into his dense scripts. His takes on cast members like Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, Cyclonus, Chromedome, Rewind, Whirl, and many others would be seen as the definite takes on those characters for some fans.
Of course, nothing lasts forever, and the second “season” of MTMTE began to show more visible cracks in Roberts’ writing style. By the time his follow-up series “Lost Light” began, I had begun to grow weary of the relentlessly “gag-filled” nature of Roberts’ scripts and was disappointed in pay-offs to many long-running plot threads. Still, those first twenty-two issues of MTMTE (plus the above-mentioned supplementals) are something special and deserving of the accolades they receive.
My favorite issues include #6 (dealing with a hostage situation on the Lost Light), #9 through #11 (the “Shadowplay” arc which is set in the distant past of Cybertron), #12 (a sort of “Rashomon”-style story with events told out of order and from differing perspectives), and of course #17-#21 (the five-part “season finale” entitled “Remain in Light” pitting Rodimus and co. against the fanatical Chief Justice Tyrest).
7. Code of Hero (1998)
There's not much to say here that hasn’t been said before. If you've seen this episode of Beast Wars, you know why it's on the list. Dinobot's Shakespearean character arc comes to its inevitable conclusion, and to paraphrase the episode itself- "it's nice to know where he stands." Unfortunately I was totally SPOILED for this episode, as it aired first on Cartoon Network (which I did not get at the time) months before it aired in its syndication slot where I viewed Beast Wars.
Summaries and screenshots for all the final episodes of Season 2 were online and I just did not have the fortitude to resist or avoid them. That said, “Code of Hero” lost none of its power the first time I watched it, and the fact that my grandfather passed away right around the same time added an additional layer of emotional resonance for me.
It’s almost shocking how mature this episode is for a “kids’ cartoon”, with Dinobot obviously contemplating (and coming a hair's breadth away from!) committing suicide at the beginning. The slaughter of the proto-humans is largely kept off-screen, but in retrospect it’s a little more disturbing seeing Blackarachnia taking part in it considering she’ll switch sides in the next season. The violence Dinobot visits on the Predacons and is done to his own person even seems more visceral than usual for this show.
It’s almost shocking how mature this episode is for a “kids’ cartoon”, with Dinobot obviously contemplating (and coming a hair's breadth away from!) committing suicide at the beginning. The slaughter of the proto-humans is largely kept off-screen, but in retrospect it’s a little more disturbing seeing Blackarachnia taking part in it considering she’ll switch sides in the next season. The violence Dinobot visits on the Predacons and is done to his own person even seems more visceral than usual for this show.
There are no punches pulled here and while Transformers fans were used to characters dying violently, it was rarely pulled off with such impact than in “Code of Hero”. Dinobot's final charge of glory, taking down the ENTIRE Predacon team before succumbing to his wounds, is one of the finest action/dramatic sequences in Transformers history, at that.
The Netflix Transformers series “War For Cybertron: Kingdom” attempted to recapture the power of “Code of Hero”, to rather half-baked and muted result. The fact that they even tried though is a testament to this episode’s lasting influence and legacy. Bob Forward, one of Beast Wars’ showrunners, actually personally story-boarded and directed this episode, wanting to get writer Ian Weir’s script perfectly adapted. The other showrunner, the late great Larry DiTillio, went on record calling this the best episode of the series, even though he had nothing to do with it. Even decades down the line, “Code of Hero” is still considered by many to the best episode of Transformers- ANY Transformers, full stop.
6. Webworld (1986)
After the most serious episode of Transformers, we get what I consider the funniest episode of Transformers. “Webworld”, written by Len Wein and Diane Duane, is my favorite episode of the Sunbow cartoon, but that wasn’t always so. In fact, watching it for the first time in reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1992 when I was about eight or nine years old, I ultimately found it to be fairly forgettable. I was watching Transformers at that age more for good guys versus bad guys, not tongue-in-cheek satire on the mental health industry. I probably only watched it the one time and never even bothered to record it on a blank VHS with my other favorite episodes of Transformers.
Fast-forward to the year 2000, when the company Rhino Entertainment was putting out new VHS releases of Transformers, probably to test the waters for the wider DVD releases they’d put out a few years later. I bought their tape that contained Webworld and another episode, and re-watched it as a more savvy and snarky teenager with a couple friends. We literally laughed until we cried at “Webworld” and I wondered how dense I was as a nine year-old to have ever missed the brilliance of this episode.
The premise of Galvatron being committed to an alien mental hospital would be amusing enough, but this is also a great character study of him, Cyclonus, and their dysfunctional dynamic. Cyclonus legitimately wants to help Galvatron curb his psychotic tendencies, but ultimately learns to accept his crazed leader for who he is! It’s almost touching, even as Galvatron’s insanity ultimately destroys the entire planet that he’s on.
This is also a unique episode in that the Autobots barely feature in it at all, only showing up for a fight scene at the very beginning. After Galvatron and company arrive at Torkulon, it becomes a comical farce as the natives try to reach the deranged Decepticon leader through various therapies that only serve to unhinge him further. Jokes like Cyclonus having to fill out a ridiculous amount of forms to admit Galvatron seem aimed at adult viewers, while other absurdities like Galvatron building a working gun out of therapy puzzle pieces are just plain funny to all ages.
The episode takes a more serious tone in the final act, where the Torkuli decide the only way to cure Galvatron is to basically lobotomize him. That’s when Cyclonus’ loyalty to his leader outweighs his concerns about mental health, and he moves in to liberate Galvatron. The very fact that Galvatron lets Cyclonus off the hook in the end for this entire debacle with just a smack actually says volumes about their relationship.
It’s a rare thing indeed to see Galvatron so helpless and begging for mercy, and it goes a long way towards getting the viewer to empathize with the villains of the show. Stellar voice performances from Frank Welker and Roger C. Carmel certainly aid in that regard as well. All told, “Webworld” is just a damn good time no matter what tone it strikes and is thankfully one of the better-animated episodes of the show to boot.
5. Last Stand of the Wreckers (2010)
After the disappointing “All Hail Megatron” comic maxi-series ended after a year and a half run, IDW soft-relaunched their main Transformers continuity again in late 2009. You had the Mike Costa ongoing and the Bumblebee mini-series by Zander Cannon- two series that seemed keen on capturing a more casual audience that theoretically had been lured into Transformers fandom by the then-new Michael Bay movies. Then you had “Last Stand of the Wreckers”, launched right at the beginning of 2010, which was squarely aimed at the hardcore fans.
If you haven’t guessed already, “Wreckers” walked away easily with all the critical praise, and rightfully so. “Last Stand”, written by longtime fans Nick Roche and the aforementioned James Roberts, was just the tonic for what many readers found to be an underwhelming couple years of IDW comics.
“Last Stand” isn’t just good because it’s far better than the gristle surrounding it; it’s a great Transformers tale and a great comic series in general. Roche and Roberts reveled in continuity, in the weight and baggage of the IDW universe thus far, instead of avoiding or being ashamed of it. They reveled in nostalgia without being slaves to it, crafting dramatic moments that they wish they had read as children instead of just rehashing past moments.
“Last Stand” isn’t just good because it’s far better than the gristle surrounding it; it’s a great Transformers tale and a great comic series in general. Roche and Roberts reveled in continuity, in the weight and baggage of the IDW universe thus far, instead of avoiding or being ashamed of it. They reveled in nostalgia without being slaves to it, crafting dramatic moments that they wish they had read as children instead of just rehashing past moments.
This is a comic for people who are excited to see characters like Impactor and Overlord again, rather than Optimus Prime and Megatron. That’s not to say “Last Stand” is inaccessible to newer readers because it very much is. When you learn what makes someone like Ironfist or Rotorstorm tick in this series, it’s the first time ANYONE ever has, as these characters were near-blank slates up until this point.
While the Wreckers as a concept had always been held in fairly high regard by the fandom, “Last Stand” was where I feel they truly became an indelible part of Transformers lore. They were not confined to UK or convention exclusive comics, or featured as a small part of a much larger tale any longer. The Wreckers were true headliners now, and the characters and concepts featured here would go on to appear in the live-action movies, the cartoons, and the toylines themselves as a greater presence than ever before.
The passion put into “Last Stand” by Roche, Roberts, Guido Guidi (lending his excellent and near-seamless pencils in a few issues to help Roche meet deadlines) and everyone else involved is felt on every page. Every fight scene, every character moment, every dramatic turn, and every devastating death lands with an appropriate impact. This story of sacrifice and betrayal, of good people dying in stupid, pointless ways, truly wrecks and rules.
4. The Unicron Saga (Marvel US #60-75, 1989-1990)
I’m basically talking about Simon Furman’s run on the US Marvel comic minus the opening four-parter and the last five issues when I say “Unicron Saga”. That’s the real meat of his run, sandwiched between two “still pretty good, but not prime” pieces of bread. I almost cut this entry down to just issues #67-75, but then decided I wanted “Matrix Quest” in there too, and I couldn’t leave out issues #60-61 either, as they were some of the first single issues of Furman’s run I got to read.
Ironically enough, when I was scrounging back issue bins for Transformers comics in the mid-nineties, I’d often avoid these later-numbered issues because their covers looked a little less familiar to me than the early Bob Budiansky-written stuff. After reading issues #61 and #66, which were owned by my cousin and who refused to part with them at the time, I started to realize these later issues were really cool. With the advent of the Internet and reading about Simon Furman’s run on early Transformers fan pages, I also realized that I had been missing out on some of the best Transformers stories ever.
I actually bought and read the whole of Marvel’s Generation 2 before I ever got to experience this epic. I remember ordering the Titan Books trade paperbacks that collected these issues from the UK, and having to wait nearly a month for each one to arrive (it was like, 2001, there was no Same Day Delivery option.) The trades that collect this saga still sit on my bookshelf to this day and proudly so, because I’ll never forget the feeling of something completely living up to the hype once I finally got to read it all.
Simon Furman had done epics before this and did epics after this, but I think these sixteen issues might comprise his finest work. The Primal Scream of the creator-god Primus, the Matrix Quest, the surrender of the Autobots, the Decepticon Civil War and of course, the final battle against the Chaosbringer… Unicron. All these major signposts and surrounded by some of the best character moments and dramatic highs Furman ever crafted. Issue #75 still stands as my favorite Transformers single comic issue of all time and a contender for Furman’s best conclusion to a story ever.
The art is pretty consistently great as well, with Andrew Wildman making his name among the fandom here. Geoff Senior is my personal favorite Transformers artist, and his issues (#61, 62, 65, 66, and 75) are some of his best work on the franchise. The late great, old reliable José Delbo even turns in his best work on the series with issue #67, another personal favorite single installment of mine. The only smudge might be Dwayne Turner’s work on issue # 68 and the featured Neo-Knights in general… but I can’t blame Furman for trying to secure some future work with Marvel using his knock-off X-Men team. Did you do good here, Furman, Senior, Wildman, Delbo, and the rest? Yes, old friends, you did good.
3. The Agenda (1998)
This three-episode season finale is the absolute peak of storytelling from Beast Wars, perhaps only surpassed by the aforementioned “Code of Hero”. If the show had ended entirely on part 3’s cliffhanger and never come back for a third season, Beast Wars would still be held in the exact same esteem it is today. While I think there’s some good stuff in the third season of Beast Wars, it was very much a come-down from “The Agenda”. Much like “Code of Hero”, I was completely SPOILED on these episodes thanks to them airing months in advance on a channel I didn’t get. However, they didn’t lose their power or impact when I finally did watch them and now over two decades down the line, “The Agenda” is still one of my favorite Transformers stories of all time.
Beast Wars fully embraced its G1 roots here, while still maintaining its own identity as a series. This is fanservice done right and proper- writer Bob Forward using it to enhance and elevate the story, rather than leaning on it. There are just so many thrilling action scenes, great set pieces, and awesome character moments in each of the three parts.
Ravage is perfectly cast as a representative of the “old guard” come to upend the status quo of the show. His tension-filled interactions with both the Maximals and Megatron are completely riveting. Silverbolt and Blackarachnia’s love affair plays out over the backdrop of Megatron’s ultimate agenda, adding a more personal emotional hook to the high stakes. Scenes like Optimus Primal’s dressing down of Silverbolt, the uncovered secret of the Golden Disk, Inferno’s “death”, and the Predacon siege on the Axalon almost make the reveal of the Ark in the final part seem like mere icing on the cake.
Of course, “The Agenda’s” strengths also become future weaknesses for Beast Wars. As I said, the third season just couldn’t live up to this finale and the further injection of G1 elements would work to weaken and dilute virtually every other Beast Era fiction from this point on. I’m not much a fan of sequel series Beast Machines, but I can at least say it told its own story, straying away from fanservice for the most part and claiming a unique identity for good or ill. There’s barely any other stories told within the borders of Beast Wars that can claim that, with the exception of my beloved “Uprising”. “The Agenda” set the bar TOO high perhaps, but it DID set that bar and still holds up today as a pinnacle of Transformers animated fiction.
2. Generation 2 (Marvel US #1-12, 1993-1994)
I came to Transformers a little later than some… in fact, the Transformers brand and I were born the same year! When “Generation 1” (which was not even a term back then) was winding down in 1991 and people were moving on, I was scrambling to catch up. Transformers was still pretty fresh in my mind in 1992, but I was also fast growing interest in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Marvel Comics. I could comprehend that Transformers was “old” and “discontinued” for the most part at that age, and any “new” product I could obtain came second-hand.
Imagine my shock one day when Generation 2 launched as a refresh of the franchise and there was suddenly a brand-new #1 issue on the shelf with Not-My-Father’s-Optimus Prime’s bullet-riddled mug staring back at me from my local comic book store shelf. I already knew the toys and the TV show (now featuring the oh-so REVOLUTIONARY Cybernet Space Cube!) were back, but I also knew they were just the old stuff repackaged. Marvel’s Generation 2 #1 took me by surprise and suddenly making my parents or grandparents take me to the comic store every month became essential instead of a rare treat.
The Generation 2 comic was in fact the first truly “NEW” Transformers fiction I ever experienced. Everything else had been a repeat or a back issue that I had watched or read years after everyone else at that point, but Marvel G2? That was something I was finally in on the ground floor for! Some people may turn their nose up at it nowadays, label it “extreme 90s schlock” and dismiss it as something dated. What they call “dated”, I call “the style at the time” and Simon Furman navigated the era better than most, with gritted teeth and excessive bandoliers strapped around him. He had never written down to his audience, and G2 was a natural evolution of the cynical eighties into the “in-your-face” nineties style of storytelling.
Despite not having read most of his original Marvel comics run at that point, I had no real trouble following along on what was essentially a sequel series. Furman crafted a complex tale that expanded the lore and pulled no punches, even as he was forced to curtail it thanks to the franchise’s second death.
I was fully present and in the moment this time as the sun set on Transformers once more, and that’s why I absolutely adore the G2 comic’s ending. It gave me a chance to say a proper goodbye to my favorite fictional franchise and I figured this time it was for good. An even greater evil was on the horizon, but the Autobots and Decepticons were united against it and my naive ten year-old self could believe that all were finally one. They would triumph against the Liege Maximo, even if only in my imagination.
Of course, Transformers proved even more resilient than I had thought and only a few years later, Beast Wars captured my imagination again. Still, the G2 comic represents the end of an era for me and my nostalgic joy in revisiting it has never waned. Simon Furman, Derek Yaniger, Manny Galan, Geoff Senior, and many others made it special and inspirational in a very small space and taught me that even at what you think is the end of the road… it never ends.
1. Transformers: The Movie (1986)
When I tell people my favorite movie of all time is “Transformers: The Movie”, I always clarify- “The real one” because most instantly and incredulously assume I’m referring to one of the Bay films. I suppose “Bumblebee” and “One” could qualify for someone’s favorite Transformers movie too, but the “real” Transformers: The Movie is just something that cannot be replicated. It’s still the only movie I can 100% accurately quote from memory (including sound effects and musical stings) since it’s the movie I’ve probably watched the most in my lifetime. While I didn’t see it in its original run (I was two when it came out) I did get to see it in an actual theater a few years afterward.
A crummy little theater in my childhood neighborhood called “The Castle” would regularly show old animated films (mostly Disney stuff) for kids every day and my grandparents would often take me there to wile away a few hours before my parents came home from work. By some miracle, “Transformers: The Movie” was being shown one day, and I eagerly chose to see it… and had to almost immediately leave after witnessing the shuttle massacre and my favorite character Prowl dying horribly before my eyes. I only have vague, half-formed memories of it, but my grandfather used to tease me about having to take me home crying after “some robot died” in a movie he took me to.
A year or two after that, I decided I was a big boy and could watch it when I saw it in my local video rental place. While I was still a little scared by the intensity of it, I was also enraptured by its beautiful animation, awesome soundtrack, and stellar voice performances. It became a regular rental for years, and my younger cousins also rented it a lot so when I slept over I got to see it twice as much! I can say with almost virtual certainty that I’ve seen this movie at least once a year for thirty-four years of my life.
Having seen it later than those who saw it on original release, I never really experienced the initial backlash towards and rejection of the new cast. To me, characters like Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee, Galvatron and more were just a natural progression and extension of the story and the universe. I accepted them all and accepted that Optimus Prime (and Prowl and Ironhide and Starscream) dying was just the end of a certain era of Transformers and moved on to the next. In a way, this movie helped me understand that change and transformation were just a natural part of life.
The story is pretty straightforward and tries to remain close to the “Star Wars” formula that many sci-fi and adventure films of the time stuck to. I know there are plot holes that Ultra Magnus could drive through and cartoon silliness that should be cringe-worthy and yet… there’s also something visceral and atmospheric about this glorified toy commercial that elevates it above so many of its competitors and imitators. There’s something here that Michael Bay could never capture with his billions of dollars and years of experience in the industry.
The animation, the sounds, the characters… they all combine into something that captured the imaginations and stirred the hearts of countless people. This movie might be the purest expression of the Transformers brand, with all its flaws and shine in equal measure. Maybe I’m being pretentious about it and I’m certainly emotionally compromised in my views, but it’s virtually impossible for me to assess “Transformers: The Movie” objectively anymore. I love it- it’s my favorite movie ever and it’s my favorite Transformers story.
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And now for my customary "0" entry, my LEAST FAVORITE Transformers story of all time!
0. Scrapper (2010)
There are many bad Transformers stories. Some are so bad they’re good, some are so good they’re bad, and some are just bad bad. I wrote a whole other list awhile back pinpointing what I thought were the worst things that IDW ever published. This story is on there as part of a larger entry, but I think I can say that taken individually as a single comic issue, “Scrapper” is my least favorite Transformers story of all time. The reason for that is no other bad Transformers story besides this one was so bad it made me angry and turned me away from the larger product for a protracted amount of time.
“Scrapper” is the title of the eighth issue of IDW’s first ongoing Transformers comic, written by Mike Costa. Of course, you’d have to look at TFWiki to find that out, since it mistakenly got left out of the actual issue. It’s a spotlight issue on IDW’s version of Spike Witwicky, the main human protagonist of the ongoing comic, and NOT on the Transformer named “Scrapper”, although he does appear on both covers. Mike Costa always gave the vibe, especially early on in his Transformers run, that he’d rather be writing G.I. Joe. He had done so before, to great success, and that apparently landed him the job of writing the Transformers ongoing. However, he quickly proved (and later admitted) he had a tough time writing giant alien robots so he often shifted the focus to the humans.
There’s nothing wrong per se with a human-centric Transformers story, but “Scrapper” just takes it too far. Spike hunts down and easily kills Scrapper (who happened to be my favorite Constructicon, at that) while espousing how humanity is awesome and the Transformers are not. The issue is written like we’re supposed to be on Spike’s side, but the character had been so unlikable and uninteresting up until that point that it just doesn’t work. It’s also a disservice to Scrapper, a longstanding and classic Transformers character who most fans would have infinitely preferred the focus of the issue to be on.
Mike Costa’s run was already skating on thin ice with me after the first arc featuring Don Figueroa’s misguided and ugly new design aesthetic. This issue made me decide Costa himself was a misguided pick for writing Transformers and I stopped reading this book for nearly the next entire year. It was the first time I had ever willingly stopped reading a Transformers comic. It actually made me upset and if “Last Stand of the Wreckers” hadn’t existed I may have given up on IDW entirely over this.
Thankfully a course correction in the right direction occurred at the tail end of Costa’s run as James Roberts and John Barber took over the comics and I never had to look away again after that. The art here is by Javier Saltares, a veteran of the industry and it’s not BAD… but it was also not to my tastes and couldn’t save the script. This is just a story with no redeeming qualities to me, and that’s why it is my LEAST favorite Transformers tale of all time.
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So that’s it. Who knows what the next forty years of the Transformers brand will bring? Will any new story manage to crack my top twenty? Skybound’s stuff sure ain’t making any kind of attempt at that, I’ll tell you what.
-Mike
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