About to live his fantasy of being He-Man.
Transformers Armada #6
Dreamwave (December, 2002)
WRITER: Simon Furman PENCILER: Pat Lee INKER: Rob Armstrong COLORISTS: Espen Grundetjern, Felipe Smith, Trang Dang, Mike Majestic, Gary Yeung, and Rob Ruffolo GRAPHIC DESIGN: Kevin Lee LETTERING: Dreamer Design ASSISTANT EDITOR: Matt Moylan
The Autobots tell the kids that they don’t want to involve them in their war any longer. Meanwhile, the Mini-Con hungry Megatron finds the Air Defense Team, who are able to send a distress call on a Mini-Con exclusive frequency (that Leader-1 only pretends to block) but Optimus refuses Sparkplug’s rescue plan (fearing his team could be captured instead of rescuing) without offering one of his own or understanding Sparkplug’s suggestion that they may have more power than regular Mini-Cons. So Sparkplug, Jolt, and Longarm get help from the kids in infiltrating the Decepticon Earth base but run into Starscream and in the chase cause the place to collapse just as Megatron forces the Air Defense Team (Runway, Jetstorm, and Sonar) to combine into the Star Saber!
What they got right: There were two versions of the Air Defense Team, one meant to show them and their combined mode tainted by the Decepticons, and that’s the color the Saber takes. That’s good detail. It’s a good thing the coloring is so good considering how many colorists worked on this darn comic. Both Furman and Lee were able to put some of their usual bad style ideas away for this one.
What they got wrong: The Air Defense Team can combine into the Star Saber (or “Dark Saber” in Decepticon hands). So what’s with the mold? Also, Sparkplug says he’s tired of Optimus not listening to him. Are there stories Furman read that we didn’t? This is the first time we’ve seen them since the previous story arc ended LAST ISSUE! The idea that the Autobots are treating the Mini-Cons as victims to be protected against the Mini-Cons’ wishes (since they want to be active in helping find the others) is a fine idea but build up the tension. Don’t just assume it’s there. Finally, an Autobot we’ve all assumes is Laserbeak (in this version an Autobot spy bird that turns into a camera and a laser gun…and was molded in the fakest orange plastic they could possibly use) is showing footage of the Air Defense Team being kidnapped but we don’t see him and he isn’t named. This is the first of many instances that the writers or artists just assume we know who everybody is, which is a mistake when you’re trying to promote the toys. The worst example comes later.
Recommendation: Still, it’s a good start with some missteps. It’s still better than the cartoon and worth a look.
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