Devestation #6 Review (SPOILERS)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:33 am

This issue was great, the best issue of the Infiltration /Escalation / Devestation run thus far, IMO.

The pace finally quickened to my liking, and things wrapped up quite nicely, despite predictions to the contrary.

Surprisingly, the anitclimatic revelation that was easily predicted ten issues back, that Scorponok was the head of the Machination, in no way detracted from the ending like I thought it would. I think part of the reason was that kickass one-page splash of Scorpers, courtesy of Mr. Su.

Speaking of E.J., I think this issue after that Prime/Megs battle issue was his best so far. It was tight and in no way seemed rushed like some of E.J. more recent issues. (He's probably finally settling into fatherhood).

And best of all? The Reapers got their asses handed to them on a freakin silver platter. THANK YOU SIMON!!!!!! Twas a thing of beauty. Intergalactic Circus Show exit stage right. Chalk up another "thumbs up" for me also for Sixshit still being out of commission as well.

How about characterization? This issue shined with it. Starscream isn't the incompetent bumbler of the past, but a bot worthy of a begrudging respect from his leader, who apparently sees the value of having him fight for the Decepticon cause. Hence, as usual, Megs spares him. The Hot Rod-Hardhead exchange was well done, and I'm actually looking foreward to how Hot Rod handles the position of the Autobot heading the resistence on Earth. Dare I say it may be a thing of......Magnificence? Looks like good ole Nightbeat is starting to figure things out too, as any detective with his uncanny insight would.

And that last page featuring the Big Baddies: Galvatron, Nemesis Prime, and Jhiaxus? Damn, that was sweet. Nice to see clearly now what that "Unicron-level" threat is that we're heading for.

Oh, and who can forget, we got character deaths! Finally, sweet wholesome character-deaths! I actually liked Runamuck and Runabout, but hey, thems the breaks, as they say. Kudos for that, hope to see more of it.

Simon does an excellent job here in this single issue of helping wrap some things up, whilst letting us know what's ahead. And what is it that's ahead? Some plot points with real kickass potential, that's what.

No doubt, an "A" issue, an effective concluding boost to a tale that wallowed in the mud too long before finding it's legs.

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:03 am

Runamuck and Runabout got killed?

How many times before it seemed that way and wasnt????

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:54 pm

How come Yaya is almost always the one that gets ahold of these first??

Does he work for a comic-shop or some such?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:42 pm

Predabot wrote:How come Yaya is almost always the one that gets ahold of these first??

Does he work for a comic-shop or some such?

I think the U.S. gets their comics before you guys and the UK.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:36 pm

Actually because of time difference between US and UK I used to be one of the first posters for any given issue, as long as I went to the comic shop when it opened on Wednesday morning and they had the issue in stock.

Now I have to torrent the comics I'm about 4-5 days late, usually. On the plus side, I've been reading all sorts of other comics, since TF tends to torrent in an "all comics this week" bundle

Dead Head · Post by **Dead Head** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:24 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote: Now I have to torrent the comics I'm about 4-5 days late, usually. On the plus side, I've been reading all sorts of other comics, since TF tends to torrent in an "all comics this week" bundle

'Torrent' as in BitTorrent?

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:33 pm

That kind of thing, yes.

[edit] I probably shouldn't have brought it up, but the deal is that while I'm travelling, a very kind Transfan is picking up paper copies of the comics for me, and I'm using the interwebs to keep up with the story. Sometimes I find them on torrents and sometimes another kind Transfan mails them to me. This way, IDW don't lose any sales, and when I get back in June I get a big stack o' comics to read through.

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:58 pm

Yaya wrote:
Predabot wrote:How come Yaya is almost always the one that gets ahold of these first??

Does he work for a comic-shop or some such?
I think the U.S. gets their comics before you guys and the UK.

Normally by a day, yeah.
However, TF comics since the DW days have always arrived here on the same day as they are released in the states, which has meant that UK fans, if they wanted, have been able to get the comics before guys in the States. Pretty weird, but that's the way it worked out for ages, as indicated by emvee. I used to do comic spoilerage for CAPSLOCK.ORG in the DW days partly because of this release pattern.
I think it's something to do with the publishing company -'indies' always seem to arrive on Wednesday rather than Thursday, and I guess IDW count as an indy. Though there have been problems recently, see other post. And thanks to those problems, I didn't get the issue this week and am going to have to dl it.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:32 pm

I usually get my TF comics on Thursdays as that's been the case with my comic store.

As for Dev 6: This issue had shattered my trousers! Galvatron saved Earth for Nova Prime's ('Nemesis Prime' just comes out as cliche) expansion. Looks like Nova had found some paint onboard the ark if his new paintjob was anything to go by. About time we saw Jhiaxus in the flesh, so to speak.
Shame about the Battle Chargers getting killed. I'm sure our BB can do up a tribute for their sacrifice in the name of the Decepticon army.

Pity Hot Rod couldn't point Hardhead where Wheeljack and Ironhide before driving off to find (the now Headmaster) Sunstreaker. The worst kept secret in TF history is now confirmed as Scorponok gets a new head via Dante. Strange that Shag... uh, Hunter's head mode resembles Sunstreaker's actual head rather the uniform Machination heads.

The Reapers went bye-bye once Deathbringer got corrupted by Galvy's magic deathtouch - talk about decapitation! The Reapers looked like they were just warming up to take the Decepticons apart before Galvatron's intervention.

Looks like Hound's unit will also be on their way to Garrus-9 with Optimus and Prowl's unit and Nightbeat twigging on to someone tampering with his mind and goes off to his ship.

Furman and Su are on form as usual. Now for Shane and All Hail Megatron before Revelation.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:24 pm

I thought this was top notch.

My only real complaint was that Hot Rod seemed to imply to Hardhead that they had already found Ironhide...after 6 issues searching for him this felt like a bit of an anti-climax.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:59 pm

Yeah, was disappointed that the big resolution to the "search for Ironhide" was... well, not even in it.

Beyond that, really liked it.

Liked Galvy's involvement (saving the day with nobody knowing), presumably stealing Sixshot. All ties in well with his previous actions and behaviour.

Glad the Scorpy reveal was the starting point (no point dragging it out even futher), and thought Hunter not being able to work out what to do was a nice touch. Though I thought the resolution to the showdown was a bit of a cop-out... but I'm sure we've not seen the last of it.

Liked the Skywatch argument. Glad Grimmers wasn't thrown straight into the mix.

Hardhead's involvement was nifty, and Nightbeat was a nice bit of loose-end referencing. Good to see Hound's detachment aren't forgotten, too. Poor Sideswipe - all that fretting to get to Earth and how he's been diverted.

Thought the last page was a bit of an anticlimax... even knowing we were going to get NP and Jhiaxus, the whole "Galvatron may have his own agenda" thing is a bit of a "well... yeah", and Jhiaxus seems to have been replaced by old man Steptoe.

Roll on s'more.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:54 pm

Brendocon wrote:Yeah, was disappointed that the big resolution to the "search for Ironhide" was... well, not even in it.

Beyond that, really liked it.

Yeah, about sums it up for me.

To be honest i was not that upset by the IH thing - it suggests he is recovered well enough but the fact we have had six issues of this plot thread does not really make it look like a competent ending. Think its a valid criticism, but not too irked by it.

I am aware i am in a minority in this, but i quite liked the Reapers in their main continuity incarnation - the idea that lost of races have essentially created war machine's and killers and they have all got a bit gyped with it and found some wacky fundamentalist cause where they essentially try and make themselves obselete by ending war through spectacular violence andthey see Sixshot as an obvious addition to their ranks works fine for me and with EJ on art they seemed a far more credible threat.

The fighting was in general tres cool.

On that note thought that art was phenominal. EJ is the best TF artist out there by a country mile these days in my books.

Bit confused as to what happened with SSs original head - was he downloaded into Hunter or what? Assume that is the case else he is a bit screwed but could have been a lot more explicit i felt. Scorpy was ace tho - as was Dante's Headmaster armour design.

Also - very pleased that both Max and ol Scorpo are not city sized.

Starscream/Megs relationship - best ever by a galactic leap.

Nightbeat - great.
Hardhead - great.
Hotrod - great.

Not sure how i feel about this 'Dead Universe' thing yet - hope it isn't just another Swarm type thing - really don't fancy another con/bot team up to fight the 'cron sized threat.

One thing i will say, be nice if we had a better idea as to what was coming next... i mean i surf the interwebs in detail and i am not sure - if i was a bod who just bought comics and had the occasional look at news i'd be even more unsure about when the next proper series is out and what to expect.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:25 pm

Best First wrote:Bit confused as to what happened with SSs original head - was he downloaded into Hunter or what?

Think so. Sort of a copy of Sunstreaker's mind was imprinted in Hunter. Though the Machination took the original offline and severed the connection, there was still the duplicate file... SS existed in two places at once sorta thing.

Though, if that's the case, unplugging him wouldn't have buggered up the Mach Streakers. Which is the impression I got.

Also love the fact that we got however many issues of Hot Rod and Wheeljack driving to Ironhide, and then Hardhead just bounces down there.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:02 am

Agree with the "what comes next" thing being poorly advertised.

I mean, is the All Hail Megatron thing the same as the Swear Allegiance thing and the Focus on Decepticons thing. And where does the story about the original thirteen fit it with these, or is it the same as one of these?

Kind of confused.

But as long as there isn't another big ass gap in the storytelling, I can overlook the confusion.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:46 am

Incidentally, anybody know what those coil things Galvy was standing on were? Or am I just being dim?

Yaya wrote:I mean, is the All Hail Megatron thing the same as the Swear Allegiance thing and the Focus on Decepticons thing.

Yes.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:24 am

Brendocon wrote: Sort of a copy of Sunstreaker's mind was imprinted in Hunter. Though the Machination took the original offline and severed the connection, there was still the duplicate file... SS existed in two places at once sorta thing.

Though, if that's the case, unplugging him wouldn't have buggered up the Mach Streakers. Which is the impression I got.

Maybe's with the others Sunstreaker was resisting and iot wa more a case of them drawing on his knolwedge/processing power whereas with Hunter he actually willfully downloaded his entire personality?

Again i suspect this was the case but not entirely clear.

What's the story about the original 13?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:19 am

Best First wrote:Maybe's with the others Sunstreaker was resisting and iot wa more a case of them drawing on his knolwedge/processing power whereas with Hunter he actually willfully downloaded his entire personality?

Again i suspect this was the case but not entirely clear.

Works for me.

What's the story about the original 13?

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/The_ ... Publishing

http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=12209

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:22 pm

This issue rocked. I was taken back to Edge of Extinction. Massive body counts, huge face-offs, Autobots defying orders for the sake of the greater good...

Of course, I also wondered about the Ironhide thing... and the Hardhead thing... esp. assuming he went down with the Ark when Sixshot attacked.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:28 pm

sprunkner wrote:and the Hardhead thing... esp. assuming he went down with the Ark when Sixshot attacked.

Eh?

Post by **snarl** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:34 pm

I'll echo that "eh".

I liked that issue. I liked Scorponok's smashed in, dribbling bodyless head - He clearly got done by Magnus "the hard way" in the UM spotlight and it just wasn't drawn very clearly by Musso, who it looks has been told to jog on by IDW.

Re: Sunstreaker, I got the impression that the Machination were running directly out of his mind, not that they had downloaded him into them.

Reaper battle was actually decent and they came across as a credible threat - I think they just got off to a gash start in S:6shot.

I'm not sure about Jhiaxus much though - thought he looked a right **** and on the little we've seen so far, much prefer his G2 personality. Lets hope he turns out to be a ******* immense fighting nut job in whatever the next series is called.

Looks like Galvy may be making his own little back room squad to kick the [composite word including 'f*ck'] out of the Deadites though - or did I completely miss / forget the part that explained he was claiming heavyweight cons as new Deadite recruits?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:51 pm

snarl wrote:I liked that issue. I liked Scorponok's smashed in, dribbling bodyless head - He clearly got done by Magnus "the hard way" in the UM spotlight and it just wasn't drawn very clearly by Musso, who it looks has been told to jog on by IDW.

Musso did the Ramjet Spotlight.

There's about twenty years between the Magnus Spotlight and "now", so I'd guess something else happened in the interim.

Looks like Galvy may be making his own little back room squad to kick the **** out of the Deadites though - or did I completely miss / forget the part that explained he was claiming heavyweight cons as new Deadite recruits?

He nicked Thunderwing and delivered him to his mates in Spotight Galvy. That was pretty much the whole point of that mission.

Been a little discussion at TFA as to what his primary objective on Earth in Devastation was... the necrovirus to stop the Reapers seemed to be improv, and Sixshot wasn't iced when Galvy headed there... so it's possible that the G-man has kept 6S for his bad self.

Next main arc is Revelation. Hence Jhiaxus' clumsy "all will be revealed" dialogue.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:51 pm

Brendocon wrote: Jhiaxus seems to have been replaced by old man Steptoe.

Glad I wasn't the only one to notice this.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:52 pm

Manchester Devil wrote: As for Dev 6: This issue had shattered my trousers! Galvatron saved Earth for Nova Prime's ('Nemesis Prime' just comes out as cliche) expansion. Looks like Nova had found some paint onboard the ark if his new paintjob was anything to go by. About time we saw Jhiaxus in the flesh, so to speak.
Shame about the Battle Chargers getting killed. I'm sure our BB can do up a tribute for their sacrifice in the name of the Decepticon army.

You mean me?

Funny thing is... I already did, back when Mad Brick killed them off in the DW G1 comic - then later implied that they were 'recovering' although I kinda wonder how you can recover from your head melted to a puddle of slag...

I'm really sad that they are gone

Looks like for good, though you might never know. I'd have liked to see joint a Spotlight for the Battlechargers.

Interesting though that it seems, in IDW, a TF can function even when being just a head as seen with Runamuck and Sunstreaker.

I love the way Jhiaxus looks. He's totally different from a normal Transformer, he's really 'Generation Two' - I guess, being a mad scientist he also experimented on himself. Extra points go to EJ for giving him axes on his forearms - Gee-Axe-Us...

I can't wait to find out what Nova Prime wants to do. He has pretty much the most powerfull Transformers at his disposal - Galvatron, Thunderwing, Sixshot. Furman hinted that we'll see the Leige Maximo next year, so Im thinking Nova already created an empire in the Dead Universe and now simply wants to expand his empire - but I bet there must be a reason why he always sends Galvatron on errand, maybe he and Jhiaxus cannot leave it yet.

Loved the issue, really action-packed.... Resolved threads, opened new ones. Who else thinks Hot Rod will eventually ask his 'good friend' Dealer for help?

And I calculate a 99% chance

that Grimlock will break loose from his programming.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:06 am

sprunkner wrote:This issue rocked. I was taken back to Edge of Extinction. Massive body counts, huge face-offs, Autobots defying orders for the sake of the greater good...

Of course, I also wondered about the Ironhide thing... and the Hardhead thing... esp. assuming he went down with the Ark when Sixshot attacked.

Umm, he beamed down from the Autobot ship in orbit, not the Ark destroyed by Sixshot. He was present when the Bots attacked Sixshot, remember?

Scraplet · Post by **Scraplet** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:08 am

I've just re-read all 6 issues of Devastation in one sitting. Fantastic!

I reccommend it to anyone who has has a problem with the pacing.

When you think that all six issues unfold in 'realtime' over a couple or three hours, the Hotrod/Wheeljack/IH bit works quite well. Its kinda flashing-back to it all the time while the action happens elsewhere.

....still doesn't explain why they didn't just 'bounce there, though!

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:13 pm

Scraplet wrote:I've just re-read all 6 issues of Devastation in one sitting. Fantastic!

I reccommend it to anyone who has has a problem with the pacing.

When you think that all six issues unfold in 'realtime' over a couple or three hours, the Hotrod/Wheeljack/IH bit works quite well. Its kinda flashing-back to it all the time while the action happens elsewhere.

....still doesn't explain why they didn't just 'bounce there, though!

Firstly, they were in the other Ark that was currently underwater and they couldn't use the space bridge from there. Secondly, I guess two giant robots suddenly materializing from thin air would have been quite spectacular... Hardhead beamed in only because after Sixshot's attack on the city the subterfuge was not necessery anymore.

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:05 pm

Scraplet wrote:....still doesn't explain why they didn't just 'bounce there, though!

Same reason Prime ordered the crashing shuttle to be destroyed, presumably. They have a policy of non-interference.

Post by **Best First** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:35 pm

which preculdes them from using the orbital bounce how?

doesn't follow.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:41 pm

Orbital bounce involves two giant alien robots materialising out of thin air.

There was time to do it the by-the-book covert way, which got mucked up by the unforseen interference of the Machination.

By the time Hardhead orbital bounced down there, their presence on Earth was well and truly rumbled, so stealth wasn't a factor.

Is how I rationalise it.

Of course that involves ignoring the fact that two giant robots appearing out of nowhere at 5am in a closed junkyard isn't really going to attract too much attention...

Post by **Best First** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:16 am

or to the nearest remote area.

i don't actually really have an issue with them not using the 'bounce when they were a few hours drive away but to tie it to a non interference policy doesn't really follow.

And wasn't the shuttled destroyed to cover their own escape as much as anything?

Indeed i would say to call it a non-interference policy is also flawed - thjey want to interfere, just not to be seen doing it.