You've Got a Friend in Me.
Bumblebee Issue 4: Wings of Wax. March 10th 2010.
But you, Bumblebee—I believe you will be a clown.
Writing this the day after the Parasite in Chief (copyright: Christopher Eccleston) has finally gone where no £12 million can save your paedophile son, it gives a whole new perspective on a story about a head of state no one is that enthusiastic about trying to escape the shadow of their predecessor’s incredibly long time in office. I wonder if Charles is a fan of this one?
Sorry, King Charles III. Must show proper respect.
Proper respect is not what Bumblebee is getting as he returns to base, still sad and moaning about having lied to a small child, something the responding Ratchet clearly does not care about at all, considering the freedom of their race more important, not to mention making sure Bumblebee isn’t nearby when the badges get zapped, so he won’t be affected.
There’s also not much faith placed in him when they detect that Skywarp has teleported (oddly, he was shown flying in last issue. But then, Bumblebee also has the licence plate Klonowski thought was missing from the real one as well) above the Bharwaney house. First, we have Wheeljack outright lying that nothing is wrong, before everyone present winds up begging Bumblebee not to turn round and go back, because he won’t stand a chance.
But you, Bumblebee—I believe you will be a clown.
Writing this the day after the Parasite in Chief (copyright: Christopher Eccleston) has finally gone where no £12 million can save your paedophile son, it gives a whole new perspective on a story about a head of state no one is that enthusiastic about trying to escape the shadow of their predecessor’s incredibly long time in office. I wonder if Charles is a fan of this one?
Sorry, King Charles III. Must show proper respect.
Proper respect is not what Bumblebee is getting as he returns to base, still sad and moaning about having lied to a small child, something the responding Ratchet clearly does not care about at all, considering the freedom of their race more important, not to mention making sure Bumblebee isn’t nearby when the badges get zapped, so he won’t be affected.
There’s also not much faith placed in him when they detect that Skywarp has teleported (oddly, he was shown flying in last issue. But then, Bumblebee also has the licence plate Klonowski thought was missing from the real one as well) above the Bharwaney house. First, we have Wheeljack outright lying that nothing is wrong, before everyone present winds up begging Bumblebee not to turn round and go back, because he won’t stand a chance.
TFWiki looked differently back then.
They also do this out loud, once again forgetting that’s the one thing they shouldn’t do. Though with no other context, God knows what any listener would make of Wheeljack shouting “Sparking bolts!” out of nowhere.
But Bumblebee will not be stopped, giving us a full page spread of him looking delightfully chonky as he runs to the rescue, knocking the top off some poor innocent’s house in the process.
Bastard.
At the Bharwaney house, after saying goodbye to the housekeeper, the penny finally drops for Sanjay after Serena talks nonstop about her funny talking car friend. Definitely very slow there mate, and too late as this is the point we get a full-page spread of Skywarp looming over them.
But Bumblebee will not be stopped, giving us a full page spread of him looking delightfully chonky as he runs to the rescue, knocking the top off some poor innocent’s house in the process.
Bastard.
At the Bharwaney house, after saying goodbye to the housekeeper, the penny finally drops for Sanjay after Serena talks nonstop about her funny talking car friend. Definitely very slow there mate, and too late as this is the point we get a full-page spread of Skywarp looming over them.
That's his name, don't wear it out.
And you can tell this is a good comic with enough plot to fill four issues from how it’s able to do two full-page spreads with no dialogue in such rapid succession.
Over at Skywatch headquarters, Horiuchi is being interviewed by a general (a new character, why not use Sparkplug as he’s the overall in charge guy?) about how things seem to be falling apart when they’re interrupted by an aide, who takes the Colonel to one side to explain in a panic the Autobots have started talking nonsense and it looks like they’ve been tricked.
Oh, and Klonowski has signed out a big gun and vanished.
And that’s the last we see of the main villain of the series, with what happens to Horiuchi being told to us in a throwaway line about it being unlikely the Autobots will ever see him again near the end of the issue.
I can’t decide if that’s a commentary on the banality of bureaucratic evil, or just poor writing.
At the house, as Sanjay struggles to find his own car keys, Bumblebee pulls up to rescue them, and as they drive off, there’s a heated discussion on the ethics of what Bumblebee has done, though oddly it focuses on messing with the control board rather than being a creep at his daughter.
Over at Skywatch headquarters, Horiuchi is being interviewed by a general (a new character, why not use Sparkplug as he’s the overall in charge guy?) about how things seem to be falling apart when they’re interrupted by an aide, who takes the Colonel to one side to explain in a panic the Autobots have started talking nonsense and it looks like they’ve been tricked.
Oh, and Klonowski has signed out a big gun and vanished.
And that’s the last we see of the main villain of the series, with what happens to Horiuchi being told to us in a throwaway line about it being unlikely the Autobots will ever see him again near the end of the issue.
I can’t decide if that’s a commentary on the banality of bureaucratic evil, or just poor writing.
At the house, as Sanjay struggles to find his own car keys, Bumblebee pulls up to rescue them, and as they drive off, there’s a heated discussion on the ethics of what Bumblebee has done, though oddly it focuses on messing with the control board rather than being a creep at his daughter.
"Is your daddy home?"
As Skywarp chases them into some sort of ruined part of the city (still undeveloped after the invasion? Blitz craters were still all over London for decades), Sanjay—who just casually drops in his motivation that “Mom” died because of the robots—decides the simple solution is activate the control board and fry both Bumblebee and Skywarp as neither have badges…
Until Serena makes an impassioned plea for her friend, and—when Sanjay spells out the deceptions—Bumblebee apologises and says he thinks humans and Transformers can live in peace, but not as servants or pets… but as friends.
Sanjay’s “Huh” kind of sums up my reaction to be honest.
During all this, Skywarp is giving a big speech about having the ability to control Autobots through the badges will, when Megatron inevitably returns, place him above Starscream and Soundwave on the team. His vision is controlled Autobots will wind up prison guards for the humans…
Except Bumblebee, who will be a clown. Which frankly creates a much better visual image than the comic has managed so far.
As Bumblebee tries to persuade Sanjay to give him the control board, he’s surprised by Klonowski appearing behind him with a big gun…
Which he uses on Skywarp, encouraging Bumblebee to run with the family.
Until Serena makes an impassioned plea for her friend, and—when Sanjay spells out the deceptions—Bumblebee apologises and says he thinks humans and Transformers can live in peace, but not as servants or pets… but as friends.
Sanjay’s “Huh” kind of sums up my reaction to be honest.
During all this, Skywarp is giving a big speech about having the ability to control Autobots through the badges will, when Megatron inevitably returns, place him above Starscream and Soundwave on the team. His vision is controlled Autobots will wind up prison guards for the humans…
Except Bumblebee, who will be a clown. Which frankly creates a much better visual image than the comic has managed so far.
As Bumblebee tries to persuade Sanjay to give him the control board, he’s surprised by Klonowski appearing behind him with a big gun…
Which he uses on Skywarp, encouraging Bumblebee to run with the family.
If the wind changes, you'll be stuck like that.
But, knowing the other Autobots are nearby and rushing to the rescue, Bumblebee instead goes in with the control board and, in a moment that actually precedes Avengers Endgame by close to a decade, decides to go all “I am Iron Man” by activating it and taking both himself and Skywarp out, with a smug statement that his friends will repair him.
Though as Skywarp will continue to appear in the comics, I guess he has friends as well.
This leaves the arriving Autobots reacting in horror as their badges self-destruct, and they realise what that means.
So, as not all the Autobots are present, does that means the ones back at base are still badged? Or, if they were in range, that Blurr is now horribly deactivated as well?
We’ll never know as it’ll be many years before anything from this series pops up again.
Though as Skywarp will continue to appear in the comics, I guess he has friends as well.
This leaves the arriving Autobots reacting in horror as their badges self-destruct, and they realise what that means.
So, as not all the Autobots are present, does that means the ones back at base are still badged? Or, if they were in range, that Blurr is now horribly deactivated as well?
We’ll never know as it’ll be many years before anything from this series pops up again.
I would like the Bumblebee movie if he had been a clown.
In the aftermath, back at the base, Bumblebee is being rebuilt and Klonowski is saying his goodbyes, as he’s agreed to take the fall for all this in exchange for a big fat pension.
Guess the establishment really will pay to cover up anything.
Bumblebee has apparently decided the lesson of this story is he needs to be bigger and tougher and have more guns. Though at least everyone else seems to think he may have missed the point.
Either way, he dramatically reveals himself in the brand-new Movie inspired look he’s already been sporting in the ongoing and orders his troops to “Transform and roll out”.
Guess the establishment really will pay to cover up anything.
Bumblebee has apparently decided the lesson of this story is he needs to be bigger and tougher and have more guns. Though at least everyone else seems to think he may have missed the point.
Either way, he dramatically reveals himself in the brand-new Movie inspired look he’s already been sporting in the ongoing and orders his troops to “Transform and roll out”.
Your friend is a five year old girl, you've no chance.
But in a confusing way as he goes from vehicle to robot mode, whilst everyone else, if they follow his order, will be going the other way. So, is he not rolling with them? Is it just a metaphor? Ratchet apparently thinks it’s good enough proof things are going to be OK though.
That was an odd series. To be positive, though I think I might be in the minority here (and it certainly did clash with the script at times), I really liked the art, it felt refreshingly different.
And I enjoyed completely off his trolly Skywarp, who wants a jolly little clown Bumblebee.
But overall, this was a mess of a story that had so little plot that what was there got stretched to breaking point, all whilst still not giving a decent payoff for the human villain. Being for younger readers doesn’t excuse any of it, and whilst it would be hard to call this outright terrible, it’s certainly extremely mediocre.
That was an odd series. To be positive, though I think I might be in the minority here (and it certainly did clash with the script at times), I really liked the art, it felt refreshingly different.
And I enjoyed completely off his trolly Skywarp, who wants a jolly little clown Bumblebee.
But overall, this was a mess of a story that had so little plot that what was there got stretched to breaking point, all whilst still not giving a decent payoff for the human villain. Being for younger readers doesn’t excuse any of it, and whilst it would be hard to call this outright terrible, it’s certainly extremely mediocre.
"OK, but you just transformed so are you transforming back or..."
Which is ironic, as if you’re in the UK and got the book version of the Transformers stamps, the very last stamps to be issues during the Queen’s life and that will therefore have a unique place in the history of stamp collecting, the notes accompanying Bumblebee’s write-up specifically point out this series as a highlight.
Next week, unless I’m in the tower for treason, learn what Rotorstorm needs more than a hole in the head.
TRANSFORMERS ISSUE 4
2010
COMMENT
KO-FI
Next week, unless I’m in the tower for treason, learn what Rotorstorm needs more than a hole in the head.
TRANSFORMERS ISSUE 4
2010
COMMENT
KO-FI
