Revisitation 4: Herbie Goes Bananas.

15/1/2021

This week, Verity may or may not get the love bug, whilst Skywarp and Thundercracker scratch a different kind of itch.

Plus, snaky Bumblebee, Wheeljack's ass and Ratchet's inability to understand surnames.

All in my look at Infiltration Issue 3!

7 Comments

Llama God

19/1/2021 01:48:35 pm

I think most of my comments around this issue would be around the art - because I don't really have a lot to add about the characters and story over what you've already said. Although I continue to love Verity, and yes, Bumblebee here is a great version of the character. A shame he turns into Hot Rod in screen media shortly after this, but that's a rant for elsewhere...

But to the art, and I have to admit I wasn't a fan of the art when I first read this. I think the main issue was that I was (at the time) a big fan of Figueroa's (and had been since his fan art days), and I'd been hoping for a style that was more like that. I also wasn't a fan of some aspects of Su's redesigns - some of the things like leg panels and feet don't look like Transformers, it looks more like Gundam or some other mecha. Of course, this was before the 2007 movie added a whole other aesthetic to the franchise, so I find myself viewing it differently now.

And indeed I do now love his designs (and I think they grew on me by the end of Infiltration, also). Even now, after so many other artists have worked on the franchise, going back and re-reading as we are doing this somehow manages to look fresh, which is quite an accomplishment. So yeah, I'm very much a fan now.

What I also find amazing is how elements of his Bumblebee design can be seen in the Bumblebee movie, and some elements of recent toys have taken cues from it directly - even in the Masterpiece. Which is just a testament really as to how good these designs are.

Stuart

19/1/2021 08:12:07 pm

Now Su is an official Friend of the Site, I agree.

Simon Hall

19/1/2021 10:27:14 pm

Aye, Su feels very much over-looked to me these days. His art is incredible; technical, believable and - like the sainted Geoff Senior - he captures movement and action superbly. It's like watching a film, with the smart use of 'camera' angles. Love it.

I agree it's a stylistic departure from the Dreamwave era, and thank the Matrix for that. Don was fine, but everyone else drawing in that imposed marshmallow style quickly turned a lot of their books ugly. Or, in the case of Micromasters, impossible to follow what on earth was going on.

I'd never thought about Bumblebee's avatar. Verity's comment 'ooh a bug' seemed more to me that she was commenting on his choice of alt-mode. His choice of a female avatar similarly didn't have me throwing my copy of The Female Eunuch in the air with joy. It just seemed a choice that suited him, and that is fair enough. Whether or not Lindsay Lohan was involved. I think I'd have a female avatar, because why not?

Tigerbread

27/2/2021 11:00:23 pm

Micromasters! Every 'bot was a massive pile of unfathomable blocks, they all must have been 'roiding real hard

LiamKav

29/12/2021 05:12:06 pm

I can see how Furman Bumblebee can seem like a completely different character than Barber Bumblebee. But I view it as a matter of situation. During Infiltration Bumblebee was doing his preferred role (spy) and doing it well. So he could be composed, competent and slightly sarcastic. However, that's a very different role than "head of all Autobots and possibly all Transformers on a post-war Cybertron". He's basically a classic example of someone who was promoted too far. And that's fine... not everyone has to be leadership material.

Stuart

29/12/2021 07:35:53 pm

That's a neat way of looking at it.

LiamKav

29/12/2021 07:50:04 pm

It's a recurring issue in life and in media... That everyone wants to rise to the top. Nope. Some people are happier (and better) in other roles. Sometimes you get people who seem unsuited to leadership roles who thrive (both Marvel and IDW Soundwave, for instance) but IDW Bumblebee isn't one and he shouldn't be made leader no matter how popular his character is.

Hell, it's not dissimilar from the arc Ultra Magnus has in the movie and season 3 of the original cartoon. It's not that he has no leadership skills, it's that he's best suited to being second in command. Some XOs would make great captains (like Riker) and others wouldn't (like Spock) and that's fine.

Revisitation 4: Herbie Goes Bananas.

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