One of the most common complaints about the core -ation series IDW is publishing? Too slow. And to be honest, I have to agree, it's a horribly slow string of miniseries. In this latest issue, there's almost no progress made! Perhaps no meaningful progress either. BUT there is a ton of action, drawn by Nick Roche (who also did the excellent Spotlight Shockwave) who I have to admit draws people that look far more interesting than EJ Su's, but at the same time, he pays enough attention to technical details that I don't stop.
Of my weekly comic pile, this was the last comic I read, but it won't be next month.
I'm just glad I read the Spotlight issues, because they're fairly mandatory reading if you want to understand why the last page almost made me gasp.

Wow was that a mis-aimed text bubble on the last page.

The cover of next month's issue looks great.

...I thought this thing wasn't due out until the 29th...

Subscribers usually get theirs earlier than the stores do. By some of the TF IDW board members' reactions, they liked it.

hrm, I got mine from the store.
Mind you, I'm in Canada.
I'll just check diamond shipping list and- ....
:/
Oh hey, they make it html now!
http://previews.diamondcomics.com/public/d...30&ai=63873
TRANSFORMERS DEVASTATION #3 $3.99

I did it for Megatron Origin and NewAvengers/Transformers, but
but I'm not going to put up a TFwiki article about Devastation #2 so soon after it's release
because... this is a comic series that deserves not to be spoiled.

Very good, if a slow installment, as in...not much happened.

Nick Roche is teh GAWD.

Damn word bubble error on the last panel though...I'm beginning to think I could edit IDW's books.

Also, thumbs-down to "Nemesis Prime". Might as well named him "SUPEREVILBADGUY Prime".

LOLOL! Pat Lee's Porsche is in the presses with Ironhide!

Shouldn't the editors catch mistakes like that before the comics are printed?

Anyway, I liked the issue. I'm wondering how the headmaster thing is going to play out. (My guess is that sunstreaker may download or whatever his mind into hunter's. I hope that doesn't happen though.)

Good: YEEE-HAA! Now we're picking up the pace! Roche rocks again with Hot Rod and his mechs have so much dynamic/energy going, even if they're just standing. No offense to Su but sometimes, his mechs are a wee bit lacking in the action department, i.e. sense of life, or something like that. Hunter gearing up to frag the Machination, although I am a bit wary about that one scientist. Machination thinks they know EVERYTHING about the TFs, eh? HA! Could use a little more Ratchet-protecting-Jimmy-and-Verity moments; I like those sort of interactions. ;P

Bad: NEMESIS Prime. Switched speech bubbles in the last page. Ratchet's helm colors, AGAIN.

Great issue, both writing and illustration.

But yeah, "Nemesis Prime" is really on the nose. "Scourge" would've been better but that makes all kinds of other problems.

At least this Nemesis Prime isn't a Optimus clone...

Yay, for once I correctly predict something in comics! I'm referring to Nemesis Prime of course. I mean, come on. His previous name already started with an "N" and his head design is a near-copy of Universe Nemesis Prime/Big Convoy. I'm glad, though - Prime is an awesome name, and it's more awesome that for once, he's his own character, and not derived from Optimus in any way. The only link between them is that Nemesis used to have Optimus's job. Character-wise, he is a bit of a Megatron clone (according to the Optimus spotlight), but in-story, that of course probably just means that Megatron got his ideas from Nova/Nemesis.

And Galvatron looks awesome. Wish I had read his spotlight; oh well, I'll be getting that TPB when it comes out.

As for the rest of the story, not bad. I wish more would actually happen, though. I expected Devastation to be much more action-packed than it is.

If the BW Sourcebooks are any indications, IDW no longer HAS editors.

As far as "Nemesis" Prime goes...eh. Seems like an unneccessary name change (not all that different from Nova Prime) and doesn't even have the same weight as say, a new Sith changing his name into Darth Something (which is also admittedly pretty dumb, it worked better as a unique name for Vader). Still, "Nemesis Prime" was always a fairly good name, I thought. As in, Nemesis has the -s ending, but is an actual word, unlike Rodimus.

You know what would've been a good name.

Ruination.

Yeah, I'm not feelin' the whole "Nemesis" Prime vibe.

I liked the concept of an amoral Prime in Nova...but he might not have been all evil, just amoral.

Now that he's named "Nemesis Prime", he just clearly seems to be a bad guy.

Was...the Porsche-like car with the "Dream" license plate waiting to be compacted supposed to be a jab at Pat Lee? Cuz if so...rock on, Roche.

Ratchet's helmet was miscoloured. It was coloured cartoon style.

It wasn't even colored cartoon style. Cartoon style, the crest is black. This was just reverso wrongo colors.

Trixter pointed out that there's a Porsche under Ironhide at the wreckers. Its license plate says DREAM...

Before jumping the gun, let's look at the various definitions of "nemesis" courtesy of dictionary.com, shall we?

1. something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc.: The performance test proved to be my nemesis.
2. an opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
3. (initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. the goddess of divine retribution.
4. an agent or act of retribution or punishment.

1. A source of harm or ruin: Uncritical trust is my nemesis.
2. Retributive justice in its execution or outcome: To follow the proposed course of action is to invite nemesis.
3. An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome.
4. One that inflicts retribution or vengeance.
5. Nemesis Greek Mythology The goddess of retributive justice or vengeance.

"Gk. goddess of vengeance," from nemesis "just indignation, jealousy, vengeance," lit. "distribution," related to nemein "distribute, allot, apportion one's due," from PIE base *nem- "to divide, distribute, allot, to take" (cf. O.E., Goth. niman "to take," Ger. nehmen). With a lower-case -n-, in the sense of "retributive justice," attested from 1597. General sense of "anything by which it seems one must be defeated" is 20c.

1. (Greek mythology) the goddess of divine retribution and vengeance
2. something causing misery or death; "the bane of my life"

Aside from him being a goddess (And he does have a winged appearance, and fancied himself a god), I think all of these could come to describe the character pretty well, just judging from the hints we've had so far.

None of those says "evil," either. And I mean, c'mon..he IS into the expansion of the DEAD universe, which seems to most likely necessitate not-so-good things happening to our universe...and he has an emissary who kills people by touching them. And he gives orders for death to be dealt at his agent's discretion, too. Judging from all this...I don't think he's exactly unaware of his own nature...even if he ends up believing it's justified, he has to know he's bringing destruction to all. So hey, at least the guy's honest. ^ ^

And I mean, c'mon, these dudes reeked of "bad guy" from miles away already.

Anyhoo, nice issue! The chase (Figured this would be the centerpiece storyline, judging from how we were left with that cliffhanger last issue) was exciting and well-drawn. I especially like how Sixshot is simultaneously scary as all *hell* and obviously bored with his job. "Whatever..." (Kills jets). "Hm." (Drives through building). I was surprised there wasn't more with Hot Rod and Wheeljack, but that was kind of the core story last issue, so I was glad to switch gears back to Ratchet and co. (Feel like we haven't gotten a focus on those guys for awhile.)

Also, I think we were pretty much told it is "Scorponok" ("Sk-Nk" Sunstreaker says.)

... "Ruination" would be less "Oh my god evil" than Nemesis Prime?\

The meaning of ruination isn't very much different between the two, either, looking at the various dictionary definitions of "nemesis".

I don't have a problem with it sounding evil.

But, in my mind, "Ruination" sounds a lot less stupid then "Nemesis Prime"

Really? Nemesis just sounds like a scarier word to me, with a broad definition (I like how many meanings it covers; everything from revenge to invincibility to destruction; and this is a character who aspired to invincibility and was willing to seriously mess others up in the name of "evolution". (The "Monstruticons" in the name of his "evolution" experiments)). Plus, it has history in the Transformers franchise, what with it being the name of the Decepticon flagship. And, hey, it sounds kinda like "Optimus," too, which is pretty neat. But it's not so much like "Optimus" that we'd be all, "Why would they have similar names? They've never met?)

...Somehow, judging from Megatron's pretty horrified reaction to Thunderwing's own experiments and his general hatred of the corrupt old Cybertronian order...I'm guessing he wouldn't be a huge fan of Nemesis Prime.

Heh...so Jhiaxus is the head scientist, hmm? Mr. Sinister to Nemesis Prime's Apocalypse? (Mind you, those are two of my fave X-villains besides Magneto...although I'm not hip to anything they've done since '98. ^ ^0)

The "N" thing about his names makes me wonder if "Nemesis" wasn't the ended name all along and "Nova" was just backtracking like Optronix/Orion Pax.

I don't really find it all that jarring anyway. I mean, we first saw him as Nemesis Prime (the toy head.) And then there was the way Optimus described his feelings in the presence of his predecessor. Not to mention the imagery in Spotlights: Nightbeat and Galvatron. Nova/Nemesis is SUPPOSED to be "teh evil." You knew it, I knew it. Don't act shocked.

As for my personal feelings on the issue... With all the buildup about Sixshot, I was expecting the Ratchet chase to be a tad longer. It felt inferior to the one in Infiltration.

Glad Hot Rod & Wheeljack didn't forget about Ironhide. I was expecting a full-fledged fight to break out between those two and the headmasters.

Also beginning to wonder about the Hunter/Sunstreaker/Mechanization thing. They CUT AWAY the name of the Decepti-head.. ARGH. And is Hunter going to download Sunstreaker into himself? I think it could work quite easily to put Sunstreaker's head on a body and then Hunter take a different one for himself.

I noticed that the car on top of the pile to be crushed is pretty much Cybertron Downshift. Also, note the gas station: Instead of "Blackrock," "Dark Stone". That one cracked me up.

Nick Roche did a really nice job depicting the suffering and pain on Sunstreaker's face, despite half of it being missing. Never thought I'd say it, but I really ended up feeling for the guy.

And I really like that scene of the Autobots emerging from the muck at the end there. We don't get enough Senior-style shots of Transformers aiming their smoking guns at the reader. Pleasantly retro, Nick!

Getting into Sixshot's scariness...geezum, the sheer *size* of him relative to Ratchet/humans/buildings is terrifying. I hadn't picked up on that before because of the absence of context, but...man. He made me think of Vilgax in Ben 10, the way he was just plowing through the city.

Favorites would be when the jet is initially seen strafing the ambulance, and anything involving his wolf form (Particularly when it's in the side mirror; yikes!)

And once I read the issue, I wished I had gotten the North by Northwest parody cover that Roche did instead of the (admittedly nice, but tangential to the issue) EJ cover. Hee.

Possibly because many folks had complained that that chase had gone too long. Given that it lasted 2 issues, it was one of the problems that caused Infiltration to feel, to some, like nothing had happened. Knowing that Furman pays attention to feedback, this may have been his attempt to correct those concerns.

And anyway, that was a Skyraider and a couple Battlechargers giving chase back then...this is Mr. "No Survivors, Phase 5 or 6" on their case here. I thought it was believable (And scary) how quickly he got the drop on them and forced them into a corner. And the chase did take up a lot of the issue; the interludes for other story developments were comparatively brief. If anything, I actually wish a little more time had been taken for Sunstreaker-clone-clobbering, but it is good that they remembered saving Ironhide was job one (Very "Autobot"). I think this was one of the first times 'Jack has used gadgets in this universe, too; I liked that aspect of his character being important to the story.)

Looking back at my post regarding Nemesis Prime and THEN reading Ataru's post regarding the name, I feel kinda silly. Knee-jerk reaction, I suppose. And in a way, Ataru makes a decent point. Strife and messy things, but no mentioning of evil in the equation.

Headmaster aspect, it certainly makes me wonder, how much of whatever it is they're taking, has gotten into the Machinations' heads, no pun intended. At least it's a sort of introduction of the Headmaster concept for those that have little idea of it and an updated version (if you will) for now. Machination's Headmaster design compared to the original Japanese Headmaster design (HM and MF) brings a level of, well, freakiness to the table. I wonder how far Machination--and Sky Watch--will go for their goals that involve the TFs? *rubs hands in anticipation*

The Headmasters are indeed awesome. Though it was funny just how Hot Rod was laughing at them. Kinda seems like a homage to how it was a MUCH more ridiculous concept back in G1.

One thing that I've noticed as interesting is that Hunter's got a different shell than the Headmasters hunting down Hot Rod and Wheeljack - is Hunter's closer to Sunstreaker's actual head? It's got blue eyes as well... seems kinda contrived there.

As for Nemesis Prime, I like this take on the character. Instead of "Evil Optimus" we get a "Prime who doesn't believe freedom is the right of all sentient beings"; that is, he feels that Cybertronians have a Primus-given right to rule over all lesser races. Still have to wonder what Earth has to do with his plans... does he need the Energon for Thunderwing, perhaps?

Overall, a great read.

Oh - and another comment - anyone else think Galvatron's gonna pretty much singlehandedly toast the Reapers?

I wouldn't mind if the first page of Devastation #4 shows Galvatron flying straight through the Reapers' ship, non-chalantly destroying all of them forever on his way to Earth. Nice, quick wrap-up.

Perhaps a ridiculous concept back then, but another angle on human/bot interaction in a different level now if one plays it right. Don't read too much into it, kids.

Hunter's shell might match Sunstreaker's head more given that he would be the first guinea pig for them to try out. Why risk one of your own valued--and expensive (or not)--employees for something untested when you have a lab rat already as a bonus.

Galv might give the Reapers a run for their money at first but I suppose given his "undead" state and extra abilities, my money's on him wasting the Reapers.

My question is how did the Reapers know Sixshot is on Earth? Are they in communication with him or did they plant a bug on him? Or do they have an agent on Earth already? And Sixshot's size is all out of whack from his Spotlight issue, to Devastation issue 1 and now this. How big is he supposed to be? Ratchet can't be that small.

More mass-shifting. See any moment where Thundercracker, Skywarp, and the Battlechargers are all standing shoulder to shoulder.

Anyone else not like Roche's style?

In Escalation #6, when Megatron orders Six Shot to Earth, we see the Reapers having intercepted the transmission. It's only one panel, but it's about as blatant as you can get.

I have Escalation 6 and had no idea they intercepted the message. I like Su's work but I didn't know that what's happened. Thanks!

Wait, I take it back; I thought there was something showing they interecepted Six Shot's recall but we don't see them until after they know about him going to Earth.

I decided it was the cheesy way the cartoon was presented that made the idea seem so lame. *heh* I'm curious to see how Sunstreaker - once he pulls more of his senses and wits back together - gets along with the idea of having a human for a head, if not just sharing brain space with one. (upon recalling how he felt about humans in the other issues)

But I still have a feeling that both Hunter's and that other guys outfits are fairly similar (as in, they both still look mug ugly!). I noticed red eyes on Hunter's chest in another panel too.. unless it was the colorist being loopy again.

I wonder if the Multiforce reference is intentional or coincidence.

I'm not going to tell you where or what it is but you should be able to get it if you know your Multiforce characters.

I'd say intentional, poking a little fun at those of us who've watched the series.

But you do know which panel I am referring to, right?

I'd like to see more of just Sixshot taking on the U.S. armed forces.

I think Sunstreaker may be getting a personality overhaul. Being traumatized to the point of wanting to die will probably give him a little perspective... or make him hate humans and their world all the more. It'll be interesting to see where it goes.

All in all, the issue was a fun romp, following up on all the previously introduced plot threads, adding only Galvatron. I was disappointed we didn't get any new developments with Starscream. And of course Roche's art was great.

I miss the "Night of the Insecticons" Sunstreaker from the Dreamwave ongoing storyline.

I know how you feel, I missed the Optimus Prime spotlight, and I think they're both very important to read for the story.


I thought this issue was great, Sixshot smashing through everything in his way, I couldn't believe how big he is in his other modes, now thats mass-shifting.

I don't see much difference between Hunters suit/body and the other Headmasters, just the stomach/mouth area.

Poor Sunstreaker, I can't imagine what he went through, but he said they're all in his head, so I guess the Machination are all connected to him.

Love the shot of the Autobots at the end, too bad we can only see half of Nightbeat and Hardhead.


I'm not surprised by the name change for Nova, when we first saw his face in Escalation, nearly everyone (myself included) guessed that for his name, now I wonder why he changed his name . Also can't wait to see Galvatron in action soon.

so do i, he was just so.... arrogant, i cant wait to see the whoppin he lays on his clones

Yup. *snickers*

I do wonder what's Sideswipe's opinion is going to be regarding humans when he finally lands and finds out what's happened to Sunstreaker. Not too good, even with Hunter, Verity, and Jimmy on the opposite spectrum.

Hunter's HM design is different from the Machinations' current, namely the part where the "mouth" would be.

Now, all they have to do is fix that panel where Hardhead and Nightbeat got cut off in the TPB, Ratchet's helm colors (gray chevron over white in SL Galvatron, red chevron over white here... OI), and the speech bubble switch at the end.

Ah... but they did show a couple of instances of how arrogant Sunststreaker was. It wasn't blantant obvious like in DW, but it was there. (ie... video game Verity was playing that was made highlighting Sunstreaker, Sunny complaining about the three humans being in the Ark, not liking Hunter messing up his carseats, and lastly, wanting to blast the crap out of the strange humans attacking them, before Hunter stopped him)




I also wonder how IDW will portray those two as well. Will the twins even be characterized as close brothers? Or will Sideswipe act like he's not concerned, when he really is, or even just truly not care at all (like in that one lame novel from a few years ago)? Hmm....

I felt that the art in this issue wasn't as strong as Roche's previous works.

Still, a fun read overall, I like how things are starting to get wrapped up now. Also, big LOL at Pat Lee's Porsche being scheduled to get scrapped.

Did anyone else notice that the news crew on page 18 is the same one seen in Infiltration #3 on page 16?

I agree that Sunstreaker probably thought that the human were inferior... And how humbling it must have been for him to have been captured, and subjected to what he has.... If Hunter gets him out of it, Sunstreaker might just be cordial to him. This was a set up issue.... I think there's going to be a lot of stuff going on in #4.

It's a minor thing, but I liked how Sunstreaker, although a cameo player in Megatron Origin, was portrayed in his brief appearances in that series as pretty enthusiastic about violence (Actually a bit more so than than his brother appeared to be); aside from Grimlock, they were just about the only pre-Autobots we even saw enjoying the underground tournaments.

So awesome..
But I gotta say that the artist change was jarring. I've become a huge fan of Su's art, and this switch kinda threw me off. I don't like the way this guy draws humans, and the robots just feel strangely..well...'cartoony' in this more serious story. Overall it's still great, though.

I'm so in love with these IDW comics. I was too young to get into comics back in the old days and I never liked DW's house style, so it feels great to finally get into some TF comic action. I'm eagerly looking forward to getting the trades for..basically everything set in this TF universe

One thing that's been bugging me recently, though, is Hot Rod's color-shifting legs/rear fenders. The colorists can't seem to decide if they want them the same red as the rest of him or some strange purple shade.

when is the next issue out?