Re: o86's thoughts on Jetfire, Jetstorm, and pack-in comic
Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:31 am
I am likely to skip the set, given other things I have found out about it. But, I did read the comic.
Rise of Safeguard
Writers: Marty Isenberg and Eric Seibenaler
Isenberg's first outing on "Transformers" was on the "Beast Machines" series. Despite that ending in disaster, Isenberg has returned to the franchise several times, most recently as an editor for the "animated" series. The basic plot of the comic, as the title implies, consists of the origin for Jetfire and Jetstorm, the yellow and blue jets who combine to form Safeguard.
Gonna split this up by pages.
Page 1-2: Context and set-up. It looks like this story is set at some point before the first episode. Starscream is a prisoner, but Ultra Magnus is antsy about Decepticon agression. He is proposing what one Autobot (Jazz) later calls "off the deep end", a flying Autobot project. (Apparently, in "Animated", the Autobots have exiled the Decepticons from Cybertron ala Stalin's forced relocations of Ukranians.)
Page 3-4: Explication about the project. Apparently, only Decepticons are programmed to be able to fly. (DvD's review notes that this seems to contradict an episode of the cartoon where Prowl gets a flight upgrade, and offers a couple of reasonable theories to reconcile this. Given that both this comic and the series are written by the same guy, I assume the real reason is something along the lines DvD offers.) As the project carries a number of dangers, (described by an "animated" style G1 Perceptor), Ultra Magnus orders that the test subjects be expendable. (Man, the Autobots are nasty in this new context.)
Page 5-6: Intro of Jetstorm (blue) and Jetfire (yellow). Their dialogue reads like a combination of Tomax and Xamot from "GI Joe and Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street". The explication notes that the added programming may change their size and other physical attributes.
7-8: The process is described. The two emerge. Obligatory banter. They are assigned to Sentinal Prime. Cameo by a female Red Alert.
9-14: Training sequence and banter. Ultra Magnus chews out Sentinel Prime for procedural infractions. The dialogue indicates that this is set long before the first episode, or at least long before Sentinel's first appearance on the cartoon.
15: Magnus and co ruminate on how the Safeguard team is doing too well in training. Perceptor, (whose character model is irksome, even by "Animated" standard") suggests using the captured Decepticon programming (used to make the Safeguard team) for the next test.
16-23: Standard "training excercise goes awry" meets "totally unexpected, for making no logical sense, manifestation of powers" sequence.
24: Fall out from the excercise. Sentinel Prime's line about Waspinator seems to indicate the comic is set during second season of hte cartoon. Or, maybe more time elapsed on pages 7 and 8 than I thought. I dunno. Either way, the last panel's "to be continued" line indicates these guys will be showing up in season 3 of the cartoon.
Final thoughts:
Better than an average pack-in, if only for being consistent with the cartoon. But, there are a couple of rough spots, largely relating to the timing of certain events. The whole "programming=physical constitution" bit is consistent with the franchise of late, but still annoying.
Grade: B/C
Rise of Safeguard
Writers: Marty Isenberg and Eric Seibenaler
Isenberg's first outing on "Transformers" was on the "Beast Machines" series. Despite that ending in disaster, Isenberg has returned to the franchise several times, most recently as an editor for the "animated" series. The basic plot of the comic, as the title implies, consists of the origin for Jetfire and Jetstorm, the yellow and blue jets who combine to form Safeguard.
Gonna split this up by pages.
Page 1-2: Context and set-up. It looks like this story is set at some point before the first episode. Starscream is a prisoner, but Ultra Magnus is antsy about Decepticon agression. He is proposing what one Autobot (Jazz) later calls "off the deep end", a flying Autobot project. (Apparently, in "Animated", the Autobots have exiled the Decepticons from Cybertron ala Stalin's forced relocations of Ukranians.)
Page 3-4: Explication about the project. Apparently, only Decepticons are programmed to be able to fly. (DvD's review notes that this seems to contradict an episode of the cartoon where Prowl gets a flight upgrade, and offers a couple of reasonable theories to reconcile this. Given that both this comic and the series are written by the same guy, I assume the real reason is something along the lines DvD offers.) As the project carries a number of dangers, (described by an "animated" style G1 Perceptor), Ultra Magnus orders that the test subjects be expendable. (Man, the Autobots are nasty in this new context.)
Page 5-6: Intro of Jetstorm (blue) and Jetfire (yellow). Their dialogue reads like a combination of Tomax and Xamot from "GI Joe and Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street". The explication notes that the added programming may change their size and other physical attributes.
7-8: The process is described. The two emerge. Obligatory banter. They are assigned to Sentinal Prime. Cameo by a female Red Alert.
9-14: Training sequence and banter. Ultra Magnus chews out Sentinel Prime for procedural infractions. The dialogue indicates that this is set long before the first episode, or at least long before Sentinel's first appearance on the cartoon.
15: Magnus and co ruminate on how the Safeguard team is doing too well in training. Perceptor, (whose character model is irksome, even by "Animated" standard") suggests using the captured Decepticon programming (used to make the Safeguard team) for the next test.
16-23: Standard "training excercise goes awry" meets "totally unexpected, for making no logical sense, manifestation of powers" sequence.
24: Fall out from the excercise. Sentinel Prime's line about Waspinator seems to indicate the comic is set during second season of hte cartoon. Or, maybe more time elapsed on pages 7 and 8 than I thought. I dunno. Either way, the last panel's "to be continued" line indicates these guys will be showing up in season 3 of the cartoon.
Final thoughts:
Better than an average pack-in, if only for being consistent with the cartoon. But, there are a couple of rough spots, largely relating to the timing of certain events. The whole "programming=physical constitution" bit is consistent with the franchise of late, but still annoying.
Grade: B/C