Chapter by Chapter: Transformers Exodus Ch. 9-11

Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were a reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

Good timing on scheduling this review. I spent the whole day home sick. 😛 So in between lying down, working on this week’s strip and watching/listening to BW Fave Linkara beat down his girlfriend at Yu-Gi-Oh in a V-Log I didn’t do much and needed an easy post.

So where were we? Megatron launched his attack but claimed to not be a part of it. This set of chapters is mostly fallout, but it starts with another attack.

Note that there may also be spoilers for the video game at this point.

Chapter Nine

• The name-dropping shows up here in character form, with Armorhide, a casino comedian. In the online information (unlocked using the code on the back of his “Cyber Planet Key“–I’d have to explain the gimmick for the “Transformers: Cybertron” toy line), Armorhide was a comedian before the war. However, the Cybertron line is separate from the “G1” continuity so this is another example of merging continuities. Armorhide may not show up in the game, but I only just started the Autobot campaign.
• Interesting that Starscream, still an Autobot security agent (as we see in the game) does have a connection with Megatron. I guess this better explains his switching sides early in the Decepticon campaign. We also see the foundations of Starscream’s point of view, which makes sense for the character. He hates his leader because he’s become weak and soft (and a bit of a blowhard in the game). This makes it easy for him to join the Decepticons when he sees a possibility for a powerful leader, perhaps even being that leader, in the game story.
• The Autobot commander here is Sentinel Prime, which may be an understandable error. Allow me to try to quickly explain for any of you non-Transformers fans. In the G1 comics (not to be confuses with Transformers: Animated‘s version, which is a namesake) Sentinel Prime is the predecessor of Optimus Prime, with his predecessor being Nova Prime (or Prime Nova in the Marvel series). Nova Prime is one of the Autobot bosses during the Decepticon campaign and this explains how that part of the story comes about, so I give Irvine credit here. I’m also assuming that there was a communication error somewhere, since here the character is named “Sentinel” and not “Nova”.
• There’s also an allusion to Starscream heading for “Trypticon Station”. Now I know from ads and previews that there is a Trypticon level in the Autobot campaign, and as the Decepticon campaign opens Megatron is heading for a space station guarded by Starscream (which contains the secret to Dark Energon, the plot device of the game). So this is another explanation of events in the game. This works for me.

Chapter Ten

• Not much happens in this chapter. Megatron contacts Orion, hoping to learn what’s going on at Trypticon Station that set Starscream running. Orion actually shows a bit more “backbone” when talking to Megatron. He appears to be having second thoughts again, but thinks that if they air their grievances with the High Council it would better serve than the fuelshed that has taken place around them.
• Also, we get more about Alpha Trion’s view of the caste system.

Chapter Eleven

• Insert bankruptcy joke here, but this is a decent chapter, focusing on Soundwave’s reasons for joining the Decepticons–namely that he thinks Megatron will eventually win not because he shares Megatron’s stated goals.
• We still get more of Soundwave’s cassette pals (or as I call them, Cassettecons) as “Minicons” which they’re not. Here they even talk like Minicons in the cartoon but we’re told it’s only for convenience as they can speak normally. I’m on the fence on this one.
• By the way, if you’ve been making a drinking game out of the reference dropping, this story takes place in Crystal City. Take a shot. I’ll be doing this bit the rest of the novel. 🙂

And that’s pretty much it for this edition. Next time, Orion Pax and Megatron stand before the council and I will probably compare it to the K-Mart exclusive giveaway comic which has the same scene. And I didn’t care for.