Issue 41 I’m hopping will see Optimus Prime with his body back. Thought I am sure it can’t be that easy. So before we dive in and see what happens lets check out this fantastic cover art!
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Holy crap! Just look at this cover! I don’t think you could fit any more Transformers on a single cover if you tried! The cover is set in space with Autobots on one side and Decepticons on the other getting ready to battle it out on the surface of the moon. In the background of the stary space sky you can make out the planet Earth and what I think is the Milky Way.
The first panel of the first page is a dramatic scene with Autobot Leader, Optimus Prime exploding into peaces. The crew aboard the Steelhaven have been trying to build their leader a new body. All attempts thus far have failed. This is not helped by the fact that the resources available to the Autobots on the ship are extremely limited. Thanks to Hotrod’s efforts the Ark has been located and Fortress Maximus decides to approach Grimlock and the Autobots from Earth for help.
Upon their encounter, Grimlock wants no part of helping Fortress Maximus and he demands that crew of the Steelhaven handover Goldbug who is a fugitive. Fortress Maximus refuses, but to prevent a fight, Goldbug ends up surrendering. Grimlock believes there can be only one Autobot leader and so challenges Fortress Maximus to a battle for control of the Autobots. He sights an archaic ‘Code of Combat’.
Inside the Ark’s brig, Goldbug discovers Blaster, who is strapped to a energy-sucking chair. Blaster’s spirit is broken from having been jailed and wasting away. Goldbug talks him into fighting in place of an injured Fortress Maximus.
In another location, Soundwave has been tracking the Steelhaven. Ratbat sees this as a chance to take out the Autobots of earth and the Steelhaven all at once. A very energy efficient mission.
Both the Ark and the Steelhaven land on the move and the crews from both ships step out to watch the historic fight between Grimlock and Blaster.
As the two Autobots fight, they whined up far away from the rest of the Autobots. It is during their battle that the Decepticons attack. During the assault on the Autobots, Bonecrusher and the rest of the Constructicons infiltrate the Ark and retrieve several Decepticon Prisoners.
Due to a lack of any real commander, the Autobots are losing the fight. Fortress Maximus orders Goldbug to take the small crew aboard the Steelhaven and leave.
As Grimlock and Blaster are still fighting off some distance, it is Blaster who notices the epic battle going on back at the moon’s landing location. Grimlock and Blaster settle their differences and the two Autobots join the battle going on. As the two work together they manage to force the Decepticons to retreat.
Grimlock because more accepting of the idea of working as a team as a result of how effective he and Blaster were working together. With all the damage taking by the Autobots and the Ark, repair work is very important. Fortress Maximus states that the Steelhaven will be unable to help. Siting the need for a great leader he tells everyone that he sent the ship to Nebulos. It’s the one place with the technology to rebuild Optimus Prime.
My Thoughts On This Issue
I am going to save the best part for last because I think it is so cool. But for now, lets talk about the problems this issue has in my eyes.
Out of nowhere several of the characters start acting like their cartoon counter parts. Most notably is Grimlock and how he starts talking like an idiot. Granted, Grimlock is not a favorite character with comic book fans so far in the run. He has been cruel and unworthy of the leadership roll he was given. In this issue however, he is colossally one sided and it’s almost comical the change in his personality to mimic is cartoon counterpart. This change, along with other Transformers that start speaking like their cartoon alternatives, it’s an eye soar to the reader and one that really pulled me out of the story.
The best part about this issue was the epic battle that took place on the moon. Something strange was going on that I could not put my finger on. At first it seem ridiculous how the Transformers where ignoring near by battles and even the Deceitpcon invasion of the Ark. It was not till the end of the battle that I came to realize/remember that sound does not travel in space. So there was no way Transformers could hear battles going on directly behind them. It’s why it took Grimlock and Blaster so long to observe the attacking going on back at the landing site. It was a pinch of realism that I thought was amazing!
Transmission Letters This Issue
Dear Transmissions,
I have only one question. How many times are you going to kill poor Bumble-eh-Goldbug? Don’t you think he ever gets tired? Think about it: you mess him up real bad in issue #1, then all the Autobots take a powder in issue #5-8. You knock him silly again in issue #16, have him scrapped by the Joes in G.I. JOE VS. THE TRNASFOMERS #1, and then overhauled in GIJ VS TF #4. You give him the Scraplets in issue #29, and now in issue #37 his body is crushed to a pulp and his mind is squeezed into a tiny battyer-powered toy car. Come on, guys! Leave Goldbug/Bumblebee/any-other-names-he’s-got alone!
By the way, I spoke with Shingo a few months ago, He wanted me to tell you that he thinks Transformers are cool.
Eddie Smith
Green Belt MD
Eddie, with all the other things the TRANSFORMERS will be going through in the next few months, there won’t be any time to trash Goldbug much. You can let Shingo know that we will soon be sending out a search party of Deceitpcons to find out why he hasn’t written back yet. With Shockwave and the other ‘Cons a bit upset lately. . . well, we’re not responsible for the consequences.
Dear Transmissions,
I’m a big fan of the TRANSFORMERS (and have been for five – no, six months), and i’ve bought nearly every issue. I’m glad you dumped Grimlock as leader of the Autobots, although he was an interesting change of pace, and I’m also happy to see more of Blaster.
I;ve just finished issue #37, and it’s nice to see that there are some humans with brains enough to realize that there are two different Transformer Armies – now how about some more humans who can actually tell the difference between the Autobots and the Decepticons?
Enough of the usual blab. I have one single complaint: aren’t there any female Transformers? I especially want to see some female Autobots. Until Grimlock learns the meaning of the word “grammer,” Make Mine Marvel!
Emily Stweart
Fort Worth, TX
Emily, You’re not alone! We receive hundreds of letters every month asking for female Transformers. Of course, you and most people who write us assume two things: first, that Transformers are either male or female, and second, that unless a Transformer is explicitly female, the Transformer is male. And hey, what about Arcee? She’s a female Transformer from the year 2005. You can read more about her in the TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE comic book, and in the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE. Also, Grimlock knows perfectly well what “Grammer” means, “Grammer is a fleshling wife to Grandfather.” Unh, yeah, Grimlock, sure.
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Can’t believe this, but I’m going to give this issue a B+. It’s almost like Budianski gave a final “give the audience what they want” issue before Simon Fuhrman took the reigns.
Agreed – Grimlock’s almost inexplicable 180 is puzzling. I would think that given his lust for power the way he was portrayed, he would do anything in his power to ensure the disk (Prime’s memory on a 1986-grade floppy disk, what the? – ok, ok, I’ve already complained about this) housing Optimus Prime’s brain/personality would be destroyed.
So, what works? Lots of stuff.
First off, it seems like the writers almost have a giddy thrill seeing Prime destroyed. See the first panel. It does show that bringing Prime back is going to be a rough process – after all, he was blown to bits and essentially killed instantly. So, I give them credit for not righting this wrong with a few panels and instead, making a compelling story.
And secondly, instead of giving audiences a few annoying run-ins with the Decepticons, we finally get one big drawn-out battle royal – something fans have most likely been clamoring for. Almost the entire issue was action packed. Simon Fuhrman will show a good balance between heady character-driven stories and general whoop-ass, but this was a good late-era Budianski submission. The stakes are drawn clearly (resources are limited, Prime is at his most vulnerable (on a disk that Chip Chase can tear apart), Fort Max and Grimlock threaten to create a ‘bot civil war). After an annoying year of kids, car washes of doom, and mechanics, this issue was a welcome return to what drew us into the Transformers universe. If this was Budianski’s last issue, it would be a high point.
[…] Issue #41 – “Totaled!” […]
I didn’t like how uneven the fight was. Laserbeak shoots down Omega Supreme!?!? Huh?
Anyway, I also found it disappointing that as the US comics go, some characters are repaired after years (like Sunstreaker) just in time to be dismembered again!
It would have been nice to see a few Deceps fall-this just makes the Autobots look like wimps and one wonders how the war went for millions of years on Cybertron if the fight is so uneven (yes, I know they don’t have leadership, but still!)