The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #3

by John Barber

Orion Pax-the former Optimus Prime-follows a rogue group of Decepticons into one of the greatest mysteries ever to face the Autobots! Also, the mysterious Metrotitan arrives on Cybertron-smashing into the ruins of the legendary Crystal City! Meanwhile, violence breaks out in the heart of the city...and Prowl looks for someone to blame. Is Dirge a convenient target-or the key to what comes next?

Collects issues #10–11 and the 2012 Annual.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, 21st Century, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2013

Reviews

[Jesse Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

The flashbacks in the 2012 Annual done in the retro 80s style were a standout touch. I'm a sucker for lost wages of legend, and giving those their own legendary pasts is even cooler.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3 kicks off from the previous book with a side twist into Prime's investigation of Bludgeon and the theft of the time travel ship! :D Then the story moves back onto the current plot lines with the the call for elections looming and Starscreams unexpected endorsement from a Titan! :D

Throughout Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3 keeps you guessing throwing wrenches and Transformers into the gears relentlessly really turning plots around and back again before you can blink! :D Prowl and Starscream really show there ruthless sides again when they have Arcee eliminate and capture a group of Decepticon Warmongers then calmly drag of Shockwave and Soundwave as well as blackmail Starscream! :D Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3 really set things up for the future books and neatly dovetails with other events! :D

The art style is deliberately different throughout and really helps to tell the scrips tale in brilliant style! :D The panels also enable this really giving us feel for the times that are being explored throughout! :D The character are clearly portrayed as is the action and the blurring of the art styles really helps the script brilliantly! :D

Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3 is clever and action packed! :D Throughout it is inventive on an epic level that will keep you guessing throughout and the twist and turn will take you by surprise at how ruthless, practical, fun and brilliant they are, and highly recommended

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient secrets are unearthed on Cybertron as Bumblebee, Metalhawk and Starscream vie to sway public opinion in favour of themselves.

I found the previous volume to be a fine-but-not-remarkable continuation of the story and, honestly, that about sums this book up too.
There's very little here that makes this book stand out from the crowd, but at the same time there's not much that I would point to as being actively bad. For me, it simply could've gone further in developing the themes of the series and moving the overall plot forward than it did.

One element of this book I did love, however, were the flashbacks to the time of Nova Prime. What makes them great is that they're illustrated in the style of the classic Transformers comics of the 1980s, even down to the four-colour art and the design of the speech bubbles.
This is a really innovative way of framing the flashbacks to ancient times and feels like a particularly clever in-joke for readers who, like me, fondly remember the comics of the 80s.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Clint the Cool Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

I'm starting to get blown away by these IDW Transformers comics. The storyline here is getting so, so good! Also, the art is amazing. The "retro" comic look that they did for Nova Prime and the distant past Cybertron looks like it came straight out of the 80's, ink dot colors and all. I've never seen a style intentionally done that way and it's one of the coolest modern comic effects I've ever seen. And the ending here? Sheer awesomeness. Highly recommended!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure of this edition at first due to a confusingly-written time travel section that didn't quite work - then we started getting flashbacks to Nova Prime done in the style of 1980's comics from Marvel and I was sold. such a great TF book!

[Kavinay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Metrotitan kicks of the best Starscream storyline ever, but it's a bit weird how dithering the political plot is. Never a good look when Bumblebee and Prowl rehash the same problem often enough to resemble Hamlet.

[Marta Duda-Gryc · Rating 3 out of 5]

First comic 3, second one 2,5 (though I liked the retro parts), the last one 4 (team Prowl & Starcream rule!)

[Bryce Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

If someone had told me a year ago that the best political thriller in modern comics was in a Transformers book, I would have laughed at them. But holy crap, guys, this is legit.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The political struggle continues and evolves with every issue. I could do without some of the side/back story that seems a little out of place, but other than that the series is next to flawless.

[Martin Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

This franchise continues to overextend itself to fit in as many characters as possible, to the detriment of the bigger picture.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

So let's see. How do I break down exactly how I felt about this particular volume of Robots in Disguise? Well, first off, I loved a lot of the art for various reasons. While the story itself was a bit difficult to wrap my head around, I loved the fact that it allowed for some interesting panels. Take the one below, for instance. There's a lot of jumping back and forth in time in this part of our story, and the panels manage to evoke that perfectly.

I also really liked the fact that there's a lot more backstory given in this volume. I learned a lot about Optimus Prime/Orion Pax and his crew. There's also an annual issue in here that hearkens back to the Transformers of old, and so I was able to get some insight into how their whole civilization came to be in the first place. Which, of course, further cemented in my mind that war is inevitable. They are always at war, even when they think they're not, and I sense that's coming around again.

The tension keeps mounting. Starscream, Bumblebee, Prowl and Metalhawk are all part of this never ending series of backstabbing and undermining one another. It's gotten to the point where I feel anxious every time I open a new issue. I'm terrified that war is on the horizon, and yet I can't stop reading because I have to know which "side" will win. I put side in quotes because let me tell you, I'm not even sure who is backing who anymore at this point. It's all so twisted. I suppose politics always are.

Then, there's Arcee. She's quickly become my favorite here, mainly because she's decided that the only person she backs is herself. I don't know which side she's on. It's possible she'll make me angry later. For now though, she's my favorite. She's the perfect example of an assassin, and yet I think there's something more than that to her. Time will tell.

So why the three star rating? Mainly, I just wasn't feeling this volume. There's a lot of backstory, some gorgeous art, but at the very basic level it felt like there was something missing. This series hasn't had the same kind of levity as MTMtE, and I've accepted that, but even so I felt like something besides that was missing. I can't put my finger on it.

Still, the ending was a cliffhanger and a half! I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Adelaide Metzger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. Not much to say about this volume. It mainly concentrates on the political war between Bumblebee/Prowl and Starscream, except there’s a backstory that is being told from the mind of Omega Supreme that relates to the events of Dark Cybertron.

I think what happened on terms of writing was John Barber was in charge of the Dark Cybertron lead up and collision while James Roberts was kind of doing his own thing until Dark Cybertron, when Windblade could finally show up giving the impression that her and her crew were the Knights of Cybertron.

The ending on this one didn’t have the impact it should have with me because I haven’t even gotten into the original volumes yet and I started on the opposite end of the spectrum with this series instead of the beginning...in other words, because I started with Dark Cybertron, I know who’s alive and who’s dead by the time the plot gets there. That isn’t my fault. I received those issues as birthday and Christmas gifts the year they came out and had no idea what I was walking into with these characters.

But, because this one ended the way it did, I look forward to the next volume, and am believing that it improves with the drama.

[Keith Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume, more than any of the others is extremely mixed. It starts out with an Optimus Prime/Orion Pax story where he visits a planet which is having a very strange problem with jumping around in time. The whole story is completely disjointed by this time travel and makes no sense. It's not time travel as clever way to build surprising elements, it's time travel as surrealism and the net result is impossible to follow. But then it goes to a book which tells a story mixing flashbacks from the early history of Cybertron with more modern things and the early history of Cybertron part is drawn in a style which very distinctly references the first issue of the Marvel Transformers series both in terms of line style and models, but also even in terms of color process. It's a lovely way to show an old-timey scene. So that got good marks. And it finishes out with more political intrigue and so forth. In total, it winds up in the middle.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix in this volume. We start with another adventure of Optimus Prime Orion Pax, featuring a somewhat confusing non-linear sequence of events. Then we get a story that flashes back to Omega Supreme's origins, wonderfully presented in the style of Marvel's Transformers #1 - complete with 1980s comic-book colors and character introdumps. Finally, a character makes a proverbial deal with the devil... though it's getting hard to tell which party is actually the "devil". All solid stuff. (My only disappointment is that the cliffhanger in Volume 2 hasn't been resolved.) (B+)

[Andy Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great fun. Plot element of a time-ship is turned up a notch and the narrative is interspersed with scenes set in the past, demonstrated with the dot matrix of the 1980s art style. The central draw, (were a warrior race explores it's way through peacetime), also returns to the fore and takes some surprising twists and turns. Yes, promising stuff.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series continues to be highly entertaining. If More Than Meets the Eye is Star Trek, then Robots in Disguise is Deep Space Nine. It's all political maneuvering and behind the scenes machinations (no pun intended). I don't know why they decided to turn Arcee into an uber violent psycho, but I am not complaining.

[Bossguy9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series of comics. The storyline is unique, and the art is wonderful to look at.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like your Transformers to include political intrigue, good guys gone bad and bad guys gone good..ish, pick up the RID series. Some great stuff going on in this series.

[Spidey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personajes muy bien caracterizados y trama compleja. Y además son Transformers!
Comic increíblemente bueno.

[Carola · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is picking up.

I really loved Guido Guidi's style for the flashbacks. As opposed to Livio Ramondelli's style in Syndromica. Can't stand it.