Revisitation 5: Deeper Than Down.

22/1/2021

This week, Verity goes to a literal and figurative dark place, Bumblebee is kind of gay and the second worst Mr Jolly (after Dom Jolly) appears.

All in Infiltration Issue 4!

6 Comments

Ryan F

23/1/2021 11:07:58 am

Yeah, this was one of the better issues. I’m not quite as sold on Verity as you are - in fact I remember reading this the first time and wondering why, of all the human characters, the most emotionally ‘flaky’ one of the three was the Girl One...

Stuart

23/1/2021 11:48:11 am

I definitely would have agreed with you on previous reads.

Maybe it's just that is she is the only one with any real personality.

Llama God

30/1/2021 05:07:26 pm

Pretty much enjoyed this one. Whilst by this point I have no recollection of how I found the issue first time around, it was a fun read with some effective bits. The fights up top are really well done, and as you mention the Bumblee action is beautifully rendered and, I would argue, not bettered to this day. (Unless we find something else that Su did that tops this a few issues down the line.) The exploration of the Decepticon base is also suitably creepy, and Megatron's introduction begins to spell out the idea that he's definitelt a Big Bad, capital letters and all. It continues to be a good introduction to this re-imagined world, and I'm liking it.

Steve Mollmann link

13/5/2021 01:52:23 am

Yeah, the bit where Megatron is revealed is great, it gave me shivers.

I've never reread these, so I hadn't picked up on how Bumblebee's early characterization isn't like what he became later. It seems to me that Furman tried to change some personalities around, but some later writers tended to revert back to How It Was In The 1980s.

JeremiahEcks

17/5/2025 10:09:14 am

Bumblebee is one of the fails from IDW for me actually. I just never got his take.

It's unfortunate that Bayformers came out and made Bumble as much as household name as Optimus (although I might argue he almost was in G1) as Hasbro decided what was needed was MORE BEE and editorial mandate pushed the character beyond his original constraints. Which can work, why not? He's not cartoon Bee, so why not?

Well the why not is because I don't think the character they did - lack of progression included - worked. For me he was neither likeable or identifiable which is two things you need Bumblebee to be.

I am a huge IDW fan and absolutely love a lot of their more controversial - and classic callback - takes a lot of the time. IDW brought me into being a huge Arcee fan oddly considering how she starts... but Bumblebee isn't one of those.

Sorry little guy!

JeremiahEcks

17/5/2025 10:12:02 am

And just to clarify why I don't like him, I find him an ineffectual whiner.

Bumblebee should never be a whiner. Out of his depth, yeah, but not ineffectual. You should want to hug Bumblebee or hang out with him. He should feel like a little brother or a puppy. He shouldn't feel like a grumpy old man in a kid's body who can only moan about not being able to tie his own shoelaces.

Revisitation 5: Deeper Than Down.

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