Full Preview for IDW Revolutionaries #5

Hearts of Steel and Beast Wars? My inner child is jumping for joy! I have a very strong feeling this is how they're going to introduce Optimus Primal into the story.

Wait, is that one of the O parts from RID on the ship?

Silverwing wrote:Wait, is that one of the O parts from RID on the ship?

Nope - unless the resemblance is intentional; this is in fact the Talisman that has been featured throughout the entire Revolutionaries series.

Very interesting. At first glance that crew resemble Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee (or Bugbite).

Domitus resembles Big Convoy, I think that was the mammoth's name in Beast Wars and the guy with the Ratchet looking head's colour scheme reminds me of Clench or Tarantulus.

I wonder who they are?

Windsweeper wrote:Very interesting. At first glance that crew resemble Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee (or Bugbite).

Domitus resembles Big Convoy, I think that was the mammoth's name in Beast Wars and the guy with the Ratchet looking head's colour scheme reminds me of Clench or Tarantulus.

I wonder who they are?

Have you read the miniseries Hearts of Steel?

In a way this kind of makes sense. Since IDW's inception 11 1/2 years ago, They have had the main "New" Transformers Universe. They have also had comics for the movie verse, and tie-in comics for TFA, and several series for the aligned continuity (FOC, TFP, BH etc...) Even a 2 issue GI Joe/TF crossover (Prior to the Hasbroverse). And a separate continuity for BW.

But Hearst of Steel was always an oddity. Unfortunately no other "alternate" universe stories were ever published, so I guess it makes sense to retcon it into the main continuity somehow.

I wonder though...because I collect the individual issues, and not the TPB's, I like to sort my comics by chronological reading order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers_(IDW_Publishing)#Chronological_Comic_Order

I wonder where Hearts of Steel will eventually officially be placed? I guess its not a big deal at the moment since all my comic books are in storage, but eventually I'll have to take that 4 issue series out of my "Miscellaneous" collection and file it in somewhere with the main IDW continuity.

It would go after Spotlight: Shockwave. Ask PrimusPrime22@gmail.com to share his continuity doc with you.

o.supreme wrote:In a way this kind of makes sense. Since IDW's inception 11 1/2 years ago, They have had the main "New" Transformers Universe. They have also had comics for the movie verse, and tie-in comics for TFA, and several series for the aligned continuity (FOC, TFP, BH etc...) Even a 2 issue GI Joe/TF crossover (Prior to the Hasbroverse). And a separate continuity for BW.

But Hearst of Steel was always an oddity. Unfortunately no other "alternate" universe stories were ever published, so I guess it makes sense to retcon it into the main continuity somehow.

I wonder though...because I collect the individual issues, and not the TPB's, I like to sort my comics by chronological reading order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers_(IDW_Publishing)#Chronological_Comic_Order

I wonder where Hearts of Steel will eventually officially be placed? I guess its not a big deal at the moment since all my comic books are in storage, but eventually I'll have to take that 4 issue series out of my "Miscellaneous" collection and file it in somewhere with the main IDW continuity.

This list, done by my buddy Primusprime22 places it somettime between Spotlight Wheelie and Spotlight Hot Rod. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Yeah, Hearts of Steel takes place in the year the original story says it was. So it's kind of fun that for once we have an IDW Transformers story that's not set in the modern day, the 1980s or millions and/or thousands of years ago.

Hearts of steel is now canon. I am very happy

Synopsis

Cobra Commander vs. Hearts of Steel! Thousands of years ago, a starship crashed on Earth—and the Hearts of Steel Transformers were born… but how can these steampunk Cybertronians be real?! And what does Cobra Commander want with them, when he hasn’t even got Cobra to back him up? The Revolutionaries have uncovered one of the darkest and most incredible secrets on Earth!



Story

Revolutionaries so far has proven to be a greater success in terms of an engaging story and crossing over various franchises than its predecessor and progenitor Revolution. We've gotten an intelligently-written story that uses elements from Transformers, GI Joe, ROM etc. with actual restraint and intent - and now we get Hearts of Steel thrown in the mix; an IDW Transformers mini that was previously its own little thing connected to no other continuity with the pure reason of having the G1 Transformers be steampunk. It was pretty great. So, how does this manage to fit in with the new IDW Hasbroverse?



Pretty cleverly, if a tad cold. As one can garner from the preview, writer John Barber smartly manages to connect the Hearts of Steel Autobots and Decepticons to the ongoing narrative of the original 13 Primes and the Colony Worlds. Bridging the gaps in time with a lovely re-appearance of Shockwave and tying things into the backstories of GI Joe characters, the story manages to seamlessly slot Hearts of Steel into the Hasbroverse with nary a continuity error - though unfortunately, it does rely on much of the emotional motivation and pathos of the Hearts of Steel characters being nullified. If you were emotionally invested in the characters of those stories, you might find yourself disliking how this all works - Primus knows I'd be the same if a story I cared a lot about was treated this way. However, as stated; it is clever and this is only a small knock against the contents of the issue.

Talking of the contents of the issue, how does it fare? Really bloody well. We have the story we've been following with Kup and company continue juxtaposed with the backstory of Hearts of Steel Bumblebee beautifully drawn by Guido Guidi (more on that later). I will admit to being a bit confused by the former - it seems to require a decent amount of knowledge about IDW's GI Joe stories, and as someone who has never read those, it's not entirely clear to me what's going on at the start of the issue with Cobra Commander and why he's being betrayed by his former comrades. Still, the narrative can quite easily be followed without context and what follows when the Revolutionaries arrive is a very lengthy but very fun action sequence, utilising the different abilities and weapons of each member all to take down the former Terrorist organisation leader. Which to some might sound a bit dull if this is mostly action and little story, but remember - Hearts of Steel. Switching back and forth between the past and the present help give this issue a very nice balance of action and story; as a reader I didn't feel starved for either by the last page and both gave me a much better understanding of the universe and characters. All good stuff. Unfortunately, while both the flashback and the ongoing story are good and complement each other so you don't get an over-saturation of either; that doesn't mean they work together terribly well.



As the issue progresses, Blackrock is shown to be conducting on investigation into the Hearts of Steel Transformers. And as his investigation comes to a head, we get panels of his shock and surprise; leading us to believe we're about to see a revelation -- only to realise that he is just discovering something we already knew pages ago. And this is the only real flaw with the flashback: entertaining, well-written and engaging as it may be, it suffers when framed as something Blackrock is finding out. When working with a narrative it is far more advantageous for the reader to discover something at the same time as the character - otherwise the conclusion to the character's investigation just falls flat. Fortunately this is just a minor knock against the story if anything, but it is still rather frustrating when it seems like it could so easily have been done better.

Art

As always, Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng handle the art duties for Revolutionaries on lineart and colours respectively. And if you've liked them on the previous Revolutionaries issues, you'll like them here too! They manage to utilise a colourful cast with a darker atmosphere without dimming said colours, their facial expressions are spot-on, and they just keep getting better at drawing the robotic characters. I have nothing but praise and repetition of phrases to give for these two; they're a great artistic duo.



But what is most likely to grab one's eye in this issue is, naturally, Guido Guidi's lineart and colours for the flashback pages. Waaaaaaay back in 2012's Robots in Disguise annual, we saw him employ a very 80s Marvel-esque art style used for flashback scenes involving the ancient past dealing with characters closely related to the 13 Primes. It worked incredibly well; giving off a mystery, fanciful and otherworldly vibe while paying wonderful homage to Transformers' roots when they started in Marvel back in 1984. The same style is applied for the same reasons here with all the same positives. To be maybe just a little bit unprofessional for a moment, seeing this sort of thing is really friggin' cool and I personally ADORE it! Seeing it return excited me on the previews and I can only hope this indicates it will be used more in the future. It's simply a beautiful homage by people who are clearly very big fans of the franchise.

Final Thoughts

I may have come across as a little bit negative in the review. I speak of how Blackrock's investigation doesn't gel well narratively, I speak of how Hearts of Steel fans may be a bit disheartened by the way the story is now retconned into the main continuity; and I do express confusion on what the deal with Paoli and his former allies is. But I do speak from a place of love, as these do not horribly interfere with the story and they do not prevent Revolutionaries #5 from continuing this series in an entertaining way and being a thrill-ride of continuity engineering and worldbuilding.



Action Man and Kup are enjoyable as always, Hearts of Steel's placement in the continuity is intelligent if not a bit cold, the gunfight between Mayday and Cobra Commander is choreographed very well - though I do question one G.I. Joe soldier being able to take down Cobra's former leader. Was he weak in the IDW G.I. Joe comics?) - and, of course, the art is bloody beautiful. The story moves on, the stakes are being raised; and the plans of Kreiger and Doctor X just keep getting more and more sinister even while each issue including this one manages to be its own individual self-contained story with characters from across all the franchises involved. Like the past four issues, Revolutionaries isn't actually anything revolutionary; but does prove that if you're willing to give the Hasbro Expanded Universe a shot, it can most assuredly deliver. It's just a damn good comic.

I haven't bothered picking revolutionaries since issue one. Not because I don't like what's happening I just figured I'd get the trades like GI Joe vs Transformers so I've just been reading the tfwiki pages but after this issue I'm gonna go back and pick up the past few issues and catch up. This series sound so amazing and actually making Hearts of Steel part of the G1 universe sold me.

Randomhero wrote:I haven't bothered picking revolutionaries since issue one. Not because I don't like what's happening I just figured I'd get the trades like GI Joe vs Transformers so I've just been reading the tfwiki pages but after this issue I'm gonna go back and pick up the past few issues and catch up. This series sound so amazing and actually making Hearts of Steel part of the G1 universe sold me.

Full credit to John Barber for injecting it with so much soul. It's like he had a high level outline of "things to do to get from Rev to First Strike" and got clearance to just make up the rest as he went. Not anyone could effectively pull that off, but I think it's getting done to tremendous effect.

Cobra Commander's line "...Krieger would." is one that I couldn't help but read in H. Jon Benjamin's voice. Was waiting for an Archer reference (at least implied, maybe?) with that character!

Y'know, if Hearts of Steel fans want to keep the heart of their story, they could rationalize that it is possible for those story to exist in another timeline. LL has shown that it has happened, so it is isn't beyond the realm of believe it to be possible for the Steel timeline. They can keep the story in IDWverse and as its own.

So I did go back and read all of revolutionaries and man that's a fun book. I had a great time catching up

It ain't over yet..! IDW Publishing's Revolutionaries is about to reach its conclusion, as we head into First Strike, but the Hasbro Universe multi-team has some more tricks up its sleeve - such as issue #6's GI Joe centric variant cover from Tone Rodriguez (plus colourist), as seen below courtesy of Previews World!

(W) John Barber (A) Fico Ossio (CA) Tone Rodriguez
M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power-a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN-the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"-and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!
In Shops: Jul 26, 2017

We have the iTunes Preview for #6: M.A.S.K. Vs. the Atomic Man! https://twitter.com/hasbroupodcast/stat ... 3474660353

Courtesy of fellow Seibertronian Daniel Adkins, we've got a 3-page preview of Revolutionaries #6 for you straight from iTunes! Featuring Kup and the rest of the squad teaming up with a couple of M.A.S.K. characters, check out the blurb and preview below and join the discussion in the forums if you like!


M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power—a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN—the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"—and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!

So this happens after the M.A.S.K. Annual, hmm.

Maybe. It's hard to know when the MASK Annual takes place considering the presence of Cliff Dagger. At first I was thinking the same thing and that Stalker called in Matt and Gloria, but then Stalker said Scarlett called them in, so who knows.

Directly from IDW Publishing, we have the full preview of this week's comics releases for the Hasbro Universe! First up is the Revolutionaries series, leading into First Strike in the coming months, and setting up a big stage of crossover material, with issue #6 - check it out below!

Revolutionaries #6
John Barber (w) • Fico Ossio (a) • Robert Atkins (c)
M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power—a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN—the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"—and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!
Bullet points:
Variant cover by Pierre Droal!

With the yearly mega-event First Strike fast approaching, the book intended to bridge the gap between last year's Revolution and said event hits its sixth installment this week. Originally solicited for a May release, it looks like this series won't quite hit its ultimate eighth issue before First Strike, barring a rapid fire release schedule. After reading Revolutionaries 6, this is an acceptable scenario. Sure, it won't be fun to have plot details spoiled, or other things partially unexplained, but if the seventh and eighth issues of Revolutionaries are anywhere close to as good as this one is then no one's going to care about those other factors.


While this is an ensemble book, and the ensemble does play around in this issue and do their monthly actioning and adventuring, make no mistake that this issue could also easily be titled Spotlight: Atomic Man. This shouldn't make you turn away if you're a fan of Transformers that doesn't like fun peanut butter in your chocolate. On the contrary, if you fit those qualifications (and even if you don't), Officer Reeses yourself down to the comic shop or over to your digital platform of choice and read this now. The Saturday morning cartoon fun is interlaced by a gripping story of a boy that becomes a hero that becomes a man that becomes lost. In one issue, Atomic Man goes from "one of those Adventure Team guys in the flashbacks in that Revolushunries book" to a fully defined character, and it's hard to put this one down halfway.


Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker make the Hasbro Universe "Total Brand Awareness" roster for this one, and they serve their purpose well. Author John Barber shows his chops in making sure things fit together through them, at least in a small degree, by nailing the dynamic that's been built between the two characters in the actual M.A.S.K. series. Add in some interactions between them, Mayday, and Stalker, and you have a nice bit of crossover that helps smooth over the wider narrative of the universe while it's at it.


They really are just there for fun and to move things along, at least on a high level, because outside of Atomic Man another character absolutely shines in this one, and that's Action Man. Ian Noble continues to be treated more like 007 than A Real American Hero (Imported By Palitoy) and here, it really works. Through a clever twist in one of the Agnes Garbowska drawn "Mikey Powers" scenes, Action Man serves as a linchpin to the issue's plot that takes place through the non-flashback sequences featuring the art and colors of series regulars Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng, respectively.


The art throughout varies wildly, but this is for very, very good reasons. As mentioned, Ossio's work takes up the "Main" story and while there are a few of his panels that left things to be desired, with Agnes Garbowska (who many fans may know from IDW's My Little Pony series) lending back up pages in the first half of the issue, his style is balanced out into smaller chunks that I personally find more digestible. Eventually, Ron Joseph takes over for these back up pages and provides his style to these in two different but still effective ways, and it has the same net positive impact on the storytelling. One page even plays around with a real Adventure Team toy advertisement from Marvel Comics' Man Thing #20, published in August of 1975 (This information was retrieved from a blog post at www.ferretpress.com. This ad is ten years older than me, I wasn't going to recognize it on my own!)

There are four covers available for this one, including the primary cover by Robert Atkins with colors by Simon Gough that's shown in the thumbnail for this review. As always, you can find the full list of covers, credits, and characters that appear in this issue in our Vector Sigma Database Entry for Revolutionaries #6.


I kind of want to check in on John Barber and make sure he's ok, given the dark and almost brutally melancholic nature of this issue and Optimus Prime #9. However, I also kind of don't because he's on an absolute roll and there'd be fear of disrupting his mojo. Mr. Barber continues here with telling gripping, meaningful stories in this Hasbro Universe that take what could be meaningless monthly serial beats and elevate them through genuine emotion. If pressed, one could definitely find parallels between the "Life of Sideswipe" and the life of Atomic Man presented here which is just incredible.

Seibertron's staff of comic book reviewers has been giving out a great deal of very high scores lately, and I promise you we aren't turning into IGN - the output of the past several weeks has just been that darn good. Pick this one up even if you haven't given Revolutionaries a shot, but be prepared to feel feelings.

This might make for my favorite issue of Revolutionaries yet. I love the mixed media approach, I'm always a sucker for the Adventure Team, and Mike Power's story was very sad. Though, given certain solicitations, I have to wonder if there's more to his story than meets the atomic eye.

If I had one criticism, it's that MASK really did feel like they had no real reason to be here other than "we needed to put them in somewhere." Still, I much prefer Barber's writing on the MASK team compared to Easton.

And of course, I loved getting to see more of the Hearts of Steel/Eukarian Transformers doing stuff, even if they were only puppets. Perhaps there's a chance they could come back in the future?

I do kinda hope we get more HoS Transformers somewhere down the line. It'd be disappointing to bring it into the universe and only use one of them.

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/previ ... onaries-7/

Multiversity Comics has the full preview of Revolutionaries #7 up. This is the penultimate issue of the series, featuring Sgt. Savage (from G.I. Joe's Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles line) as the guest star.

It also features more Centurion and the Adventure Team. Which means this issue is going to be awesome.

As first seen on Multiversity Comics and as pointed out by Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forum user Daniel Adkins, the five page preview for Revolutionaries #7 is now available. Kup, Centurion, Action Man, Blackrock, Mayday, and Sgt. Savage feature in this next chapter of the series keeping the Hasbro Universe glued together, and while delays have kept this from being released before First Strike as intended, the preview pages below may help you decide whether to give this a shot this upcoming Wednesday, August 16th when the issue hits the shelves.

Idk if I'll have time for this post in the morning, so typing it now. Super minor Revolutionaries 7 spoilers from here on!

There's a page with Sgt. Savage and a "Team Extreme" done up in a very 90s style. I dug around the internet and figured out who was on it. Other than Sgt. Savage himself it has:
1. "Action Man" who I take to not be Ian's predecessor, Agent Brogan, but instead, Alex Mann from the Action Man Xtreme cartoon. Could still be Brogan but I figured they'd have name dropped him if it were.
2. Natalie Poole, a Team Xtreme member from that same cartoon.
3. Zartan in his appearance from the GI Joe Ninja Froce toyline.
4. Toxo-Zombie from the GI Joe Eco Warriors toyline. Blast from Kaybee clearance aisles past!
5. Cesspool from the same toyline.

Hope this saves y'all some Google time

This issue was totally tubular! I mean, seriously dog, this was bodacious. 90s Action Man (who is totally Alex Mann) and Sgt. Savage drawn in such extreme art. It was totally dope. But man, I thought Centurion was my homeskillet, but him still working for the bad guy? That's whack! It's a major bummer that twist got jacked, cause the foreshadowing was slamming! But hey, I'm not tripping. Point is, this issue was totally dank!

Like the last issue, I feel this one was a bit of a mess and all-over-the-place hence making it weaker than the first 5 issues of Revolutionaries; but I still enjoyed it. Sgt. Slaughter in particular I really liked and would love to see join the Revolutionaries' main team.

Kurona wrote:Like the last issue, I feel this one was a bit of a mess and all-over-the-place hence making it weaker than the first 5 issues of Revolutionaries; but I still enjoyed it. Sgt. Slaughter in particular I really liked and would love to see join the Revolutionaries' main team.

*Sgt. Savage. (Slaughter was the pro wrestler-turned-Joe figure.)

Daniel Adkins wrote:

Kurona wrote:Like the last issue, I feel this one was a bit of a mess and all-over-the-place hence making it weaker than the first 5 issues of Revolutionaries; but I still enjoyed it. Sgt. Slaughter in particular I really liked and would love to see join the Revolutionaries' main team.

*Sgt. Savage. (Slaughter was the pro wrestler-turned-Joe figure.)

Bleh, keep mixing Joe names up. Either way, I like him!

Revolutionaries #8 iTunes preview: https://t.co/JedZbryjOA

Hot on the heels of the previous preview, we have another Transformers related title, scheduled to be released on September 27th, the final issue of Revolutionaries! After last issue (which arrived a touch late) and the big reveal it contained, what will the final issue hold?

OPTIMUS PRIME VS. BARON IRONBLOOD! The final mystery is revealed as Baron Ironblood reveals his true identity! Only by teaming with Transformers leader Optimus Prime do the Revolutionaries have a chance to save Earth—and the whole Hasbro universe! The senses-shattering conclusion to Revolutionaries leads directly into next month's massive crossover event!

Thanks to Comic Crusaders, we have the full preview for IDW's Revolutionaries #8! This is the final installment of the Revolutionaries series, and features the final pieces of the puzzle necessary to fully understand First Strike. Check out the preview below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.

Daniel Adkins wrote:

Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.

We weren't given it digitally! Has anyone had any luck in print format?
(Oh IDW, sometimes I do wonder..)

Va'al wrote:

Daniel Adkins wrote:

Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.

We weren't given it digitally! Has anyone had any luck in print format?
(Oh IDW, sometimes I do wonder..)

I got a hardcopy at my lcs yesterday. It’s a fitting final issue (physically) to the best thing to come out of the combined hasboroverse.

Calvatron wrote:

Va'al wrote:

Daniel Adkins wrote:

Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.

We weren't given it digitally! Has anyone had any luck in print format?
(Oh IDW, sometimes I do wonder..)

I got a hardcopy at my lcs yesterday. It’s a fitting final issue (physically) to the best thing to come out of the combined hasboroverse.

Yep, I have emailed IDW. It wasn't even listed in their official solicits for the week. Odd.

Just read my paper copy. What a criminally underrated series, especially the second half. Definitely shows the potential of this universe to do something great.

Also, at last, a Titan Master does something befitting the name!

Just barely over a year after the initial Revolution issues hit stands, and several months after its originally intended release date, the final issue of Revolutionaries came out almost two weeks ago. As we were not supplied with a review sample from IDW Publishing, this review is quite late. Couple this with yours truly suffering from post-TFcon exhaustion and, well, sorry about the tardiness. How is this issue, and how well does it wrap up this series? Read on to learn more.



A book that started out being primarily about Kup and his human buddy Action Man has changed, with most of the plot from issue 5 and onward being directed toward the history of the Adventure Team (in-fiction, a predecessor to G.I. Joe; in reality, paying homage to some of the original Joe action figures hailing from the days before "A Real American Hero".) The narrative doesn't leave Kup and Ian by the wayside by any means, with their adventure still being the crux of the plot, but it definitely shares the focus in a big way as it has for the past several issues. Threads from the earlier (and too short) Action Man series aren't left aside either, which is a pleasing turn for myself and the three other fans of that book.


Of course, given the fictional roster of the Adventure Team in this series, by this eighth installment we've not had focus on its leader: "G.I." Joe Colton, the plot armored, narrative-charisma-sucking, walking Optimus Prime foil. While it's great to see John Barber playing with this universe's continuity in a masterful way that other series in this "Hasbroverse" haven't been able to live up to, Colton has the same detrimental effect on Revolutionaries as he does over in First Strike. In particular, I mean to say that this character takes away all the stakes. With the fakeout death he was handed in Revolution #1, coupled with the unfathomable good luck/timing/circumstances he keeps encountering in First Strike, prepare to have all tension zapped away once he enters the scene.


This is thankfully where the drawbacks come to a close. The cheeky, self-aware, over the top, borderline cheesy/campy nature of the book continues here, lending a charm that manages to overcome the more flattened Total Brand Awareness characters like Colton. From Skywarp's wisecracks, to Blackrock seeing insane unimaginable events occur that he laughs off with a smile, the potential of the Hasbro universe is realized to a pretty great extent on many of the panels within.



The line art duties are handled by series regulars Ron Joseph and Fico Ossio, and if you've read other issues of Revolutionaries you'll know precisely what to expect here. Though it must be said that just like many other artists more adept at drawing humans, as Ossio in particular shows, sometimes it just takes some time and practice to get drawing Transformers down. I do find myself agreeing with fellow site Administrator Dr. Va'al, in that the shifting artists throughout the course of the issue does take the edge off of some scenes.


That said, the colors of David Garcia Cruz and Sebastian Cheng do help lend some consistency. Particular call-out is in store for the wonderful way in which these teams have found their voice through the techno-organic hybrid characters like Storm Shadow, Krieger, and Blackrock. Were it not for the incredible Guido Guidi Beast Wars pages (earlier in the series, not in this issue) I might be clamoring to see some of their takes on our favorite Maximals and Predacons!

As always, you can find full art credits and cover images in the Vector Sigma Database, just be wary of the spoiler filled character list!



I have to admit that there's a part of me that goes easy on Revolutionaries from a critical perspective. It's not perfect, its surprises have been given away at every turn by publication delays, and there just don't seem to be many fans of the series. Despite starting from a disadvantage, this eighth issue is on par with the rest in its ability to just have fun and is both a fitting conclusion and a great, though sorely preempted, lead-in to the still ongoing First Strike.

For Revolutionaries #8:


That wrap up may have seemed short, but this was intentional. We're not quite done here yet!


To say that IDW Publishing's creation of a shared universe of Hasbro properties has been less than well received by fans would be a monolithic understatement. My local shop's subscriptions are down for both Transformers and Joe, and things are worse for the Hasbroverse books with yours truly being the one and only Rom subscriber left in this pocket of Raleigh - they don't even buy extras for the shelf these days. Even our own site's owner has given up on Transformers comics for the first time in over 30 years. I was reminded recently by fellow podcaster Counterpunch that this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. After all, Transformers fans went berserk and swore off IDW in late 2011 when they had the audacity to split the story into an entire two ongoings. It was only the quality of the stories that came after that made that whole ordeal, well, pretty forgotten.


You may be wondering how this is relevant to Revolutionaries. You see, of all the Hasbro Universe tie-ins, this series replaces Micronauts for me as the "one that I would recommend to Transformers fans" when looking at the post-Revolution material. It features characters from other properties, yes, but the core cast was established in John Barber's Robots in Disguise/Transformers run, with Action Man serving as a really fun "plus one" - not to diminish his role, but maybe it'll help some potential readers get over the G.I. Joe hurdle they feel has been placed in front of them.


The first issue, and maybe even the first half of this series won't ameliorate much if your default position is that these comics have gone too far, there are too many properties, and there are too many series to buy and keep track of. The first four issues' story arc does its job, which at that point was to (from my perspective) keep up the hard sell of this Hasbro Universe of monthly comics. The first trade is available now, and if you pick it up you may be wondering why, in hindsight, I recommend this title. It's really down to this second half, as I feel it's going to be looked back at as a pretty special thing despite a few critical flaws.


The continuity weaving that happens is outstanding in the entire run, but notably in the second half of Revolutionaries, you get all of the following and more: closure of a minor but conspicuous character absence in Spotlight: Soundwave; actual tie-ins to All Hail Megatron; references to Spotlight: Doubledealer; more closure on Kup's "Dead Universe" story; and even a de facto retcon of Hearts of Steel and Infestation 2 into the shared Hasbro Universe. This doesn't even touch on the huge amount of material pulled from earlier IDW G.I. Joe stories, which I don't have any real idea of but the later pages of Revolutionaries #8 go through several Easter Eggs related to those books. We've jokingly nicknamed the author John "Continuity" Barber, but in this series you may come to realize he's no-joking, scary good at this world-building concept.


And then there's Revolutionaries #6, and you can find my review at this link. This might have had the fewest Transformers related panels and pages in the entire run, but is such a touching while simultaneously heartwrenching story that it really elevated the legitimacy of the second half as a good story that exceeded what should have been bounds made of Brand Building and Multi-Channel Cross-Vertical Storytelling Synergy. When the second trade comes out, it might be worth it just for this alone.


And with that, it's time to wrap things up on this longer than normal review. While I'm sure any endorsement of these books will ring hollow to many readers of this site, for those of you not stomping your feet with your hands over your ears refusing to check out any IDW books right now, pay attention. You should give some of this series a chance, and also know that even if you just go and pick this one (or parts of it) up it doesn't mean you have to suddenly grab five other books at the same time. This will have you more than prepared for First Strike, if you want, and quite honestly will save you some time you don't need to spend as a "Transformers-only" or "Transformers-first" reader on other Hasbro Universe titles.

For Revolutionaries, the series:

As the second Action Man comic fan on the comic, I agree with that bit

In fact, I agree with pretty much all of this. I remember back when this comic was announced I felt that with the multiple factors it had going for it - the Hasbroverse already being set up; a slower read spread out over a year; a self-contained story that you are not required to read; a fun little ragtag group compared to having to get every major player involved - this would be one of the positives to the Hasbroverse, one of the things that would prove it could be done right, and the polar opposite to Revolution in how well it's handled. And I feel that for once I predicted correctly. Revolutionaries was a very fun mini (maxi?) that deserves a lot more attention and credit than it gets. I can only hope we get something else like this after First Strike -- this time throwing Sgt. Savage in the mix; he is so entertaining and so deserves to be on this team!

Checking in as one of the three Action Man fans, that series was wonderful. Now where are the other two...?
I've said it before though and I'll say it again: Revolutionaries is a better crossover than any of Hasbro's actual crossovers. And that's even considering the huge step up that first strike is from Revolution. The world building tie-ins were delightful even if half of them were to stuff I've only read about on the wiki, and it really managed to strike the right balance and tone for such a varied cast.
I'm curious to see where they all end up next, as I don't think it's getting a direct continuation. Atomic Centuribee (I kinda hope he picks a new name for his new... self) seems to crop up on a couple of OP covers if memory serves, which is kind of a shame as the team could've done with another mech imo, but other than that I'm not sure?
Maybe I've missed an announcement, but the only new serials I remember are Scarlett's Joe Sequel, Robot And The Small Robots, and Somehow We'll Make The Visionaries Relevant I Promise.

Also, I've honestly not found the release offset too jarring, despite FS being 2/3ish of the way through already. Having not read Joe or Mask I don't know who half the villains are anyway, and both FS and Revolutionaries are at the same level of cool if you know them but fine if you don't, imo.
I am still confused about Head Ninja (storm shadow?)'s whole deal though, having wraith like powers and magic DNA that reverses the talisman's effects? Sure, why not

I enjoyed the Action Man I read from the super IDW Humble Bundle a while ago. Was there more to that series? Or is it straight into revolutionaries? I am well behind with my comics at the moment, so info is appreciated.

Big Grim wrote:I enjoyed the Action Man I read from the super IDW Humble Bundle a while ago. Was there more to that series? Or is it straight into revolutionaries? I am well behind with my comics at the moment, so info is appreciated.

Ding ding ding! That's all three of us, folks
It ran last year for I think a 4-issue miniseries, with oneshot tying in to the Revolution event, in which he featured... probably? Tbh I can barely remember what happened in Revolution.
Pretty sure the 5 have been collected into a TPB if that's your style.

Then we have issues because Action Man was my favorite of the shared universe guys. He and Kup are a great team!

Action Man came in at the last second in the final battle of Revolution, where he did... uh... something. For all intents and purposes, Revolutionaries was his ongoing.

Scotty, looks like you counted wrong -- D-Maximus makes 5 Action Man fans here!