The Allspark: Transformers News Movie Comics Animated - Transformers: The Stargate Battles, Part 2 of 4

Hydra’s comments

Once again we get 40+ pages chock full of great storytelling, with the stage this time being set on Earth. Events pick up three months after those of part one, at a point where reconstruction efforts are being made on the Trigger and the Cybertrons have lent their data to the American government for weapons development. Although the idea of humans fearing and resisting the Transformers is not an uncommon one, Tsushima brings a new level of realism to it by utilizing elements like weapons development and military expansion. Although very faithful to the themes of the G1 cartoon, we get a sense that this is more grounded in reality (in other words, don't expect to see any giant blue griffons any time soon). Focusing mainly on a core group of Convoy, Bumble, Wheeljack, and Streak this time around, Tsushima also does a good job selecting several Cybertrons from the multitude to highlight each month.

There are a few scenes that stood out to me, the first of which being Megatron and Starscream's banter at the beginning of the story. Obviously Tsushima really "gets" the relationship between these two. Professor Adle is also a fun character, aloof but apparently not without a sense of humor. The irony of Convoy fighting to protect a mob of humans who detest him is apparent to everyone present. Because the Destrons don't make a large appearance this month, the episode is effectively bookended with Starscream's enigmatic conversation at the end, demonstrating again how well connected the storytelling is despite spanning a number of different locations.

Hang on for the next installment in two weeks, where the issue of international relations will become even more central in the Stargate Battles!