Beast Wars: The Gathering # 2
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by Don Figueroa

Summary:

On prehistoric Earth, a large assembly of newly-created Predacons stands before Magmatron as he declares that they are at war.  He addresses the current issue of Razorbeast's betrayal and how it dealt a serious blow to his plans to overthrow the Maximal Imperium on Cybertron.  Magmatron believes that they number enough now to still go through with this plan, but first they need to take care of Razorbeast and the Maximals he's awakened.  The Predacon commander turns things over to Iguanus, who begins dividing the assembled troops into hunting division.  Magmatron turns to Drill Bit and Spittor (who's a bit torn-up but still intact after tussling with Polar Claw last issue) and tells them that it is likely Razorbeast will try to get a message back to Cybertron and his Maximal superiors.  To do this, he would need a Transwarp Signal Booster, and Magmatron speculates that there is only one safe place to get one.  Elsewhere at the same time, Razorbeast and six other stray Maximals (Bonecrusher, B'Boom, Optimus Minor, Ramulus, Wolfang, and Snarl) that have joined him are discussing this very subject.  Razorbeast wants to retrieve the Signal Booster from the Transwarp cruiser that he knows the Tripredacus Council sent to Earth.  Razorbeast explains to his new comrades how Magmatron kept his plan to convert the Earth-bound stasis pods secret until the very last moment, thusly preventing the Maximal double-agent from warning his superiors.  We see in a little flashback as Magmatron's team is preparing for a "Transwarp shunt" to prehistoric Earth, he explains to Razorbeast that the global transmitting array they are bringing (and that Razorbeast built for him) is the key to accomplishing this agenda.  Razorbeast knew that he could only do his best to sabotage Magmatron's plan at this point, and incorporated a viral code into the shell signal sent by the transmitting array, which only converted about half of the stasis pods into Predacons.  As Razorbeast finishes reflecting, Ramulus speaks up and asks how the seven of them are supposed to put a stop to Magmatron.  Razorbeast acknowledges that they are outnumbered and knows there should have been more Maximals who answered his call, but he's puzzled as to where they are at the moment.  Even as Razorbeast wonders this, we see Maximals all over the globe, in the air, sea, and land all moving towards a common goal; a gathering.  Elsewhere, Magmatron, Spittor, and Drill Bit examine the site where the Tripredacus agent Ravage supposedly was killed.  Magmatron is going by Tarantulas' final report to the Council about an all-out assault on the Axalon (The Agenda, Part 3).  He dismisses Ravage's apparent death as a shame; after all, it was Ravage's information that led them here to prehistoric Earth in the first place.  Magmatron and his troops convert to beast modes (Magmatron splitting into "Landsaur", "Seasaur", and "Skysaur" modes) and begin their search of the area for Ravage's downed Transwarp cruiser.  In a nearby crevice, Razorbeast's team also begins their search for Ravage's ship.  B'Boom is still a bit wary of Razorbeast, since this situation could easily be a trap.  What's more, Razorbeast's spark signature is reading as a Predacon one on B'Boom's scanners.  Razorbeast acknowledges that he's asking a lot to be taken on his word, and that his spark signature was altered on Cybertron to that of a Predacon's to better facilitate his double-agent status.  Time is a factor however, and every second they waste means peril for every Maximal on Cybertron, so Razorbeast is asking for cooperation.  After a tense moment or two, B'Boom agrees to move along, and Snarl eagerly anticipates some action.  Razorbeast agrees with B'Boom that they probably will be running into Magmatron's Predacons, so he urges everyone to be careful.  Snarl tells Razorbeast that he's not "stoopid", demonstrating his cloaking ability as he speaks, and with that the seven Maximals split up and go to work unaware that Magmatron's Skysaur component is watching them from the air.  Ramulus begins trotting up the mountainside, a goal easily achieved by his beast mode, but Spittor suddenly appears, catching the Maximal by surprise and tagging him with a toxic tongue lash.  Ramulus loses motor control and plummets off the mountain, not unnoticed by his Maximal comrades on the ground.  Razorbeast quickly calls for a tactical formation, but Bonecrusher and Wolfang notice B'Boom has gone missing!  Suddenly, B'Boom damaged beast form crashes to the ground nearby as Magmatron's Landsaur component appears before them.  Magmatron notes that Razorbeast has found some new comrades, and his Skysaur and Seasaur components also approach from the other side, boxing the Maximals in.  Elsewhere, Optimus Minor has located the Transwarp cruiser's remains and gleefully leaps inside to pilfer what the Maximals need.  Back in the crevice, Razorbeast desperately dodges attacks by Magmatron's Landsaur component, transforming to robot mode and firing upon his adversary, but Magmatron is completely unphased by Razorbeast's meager firepower.  The smaller Maximal looks to his comrades to see them otherwise engaged with the Seasaur and Skysaur components.  His back against the wall, Razorbeast desperately looks for a way out as Magmatron advances on him.  Meanwhile, Optimus Minor is not having much luck locating a Transwarp Signal Booster in the cruiser's wreckage, and he finds out why when Drill Bit appears behind him holding it!  Drill Bit thinks he's got the drop on the Maximal, but someone is sneaking up from behind him at the same time.  Back in the crevice, Razorbeast holds his arms up, seemingly in surrender.  Magmatron smugly informs the smaller Maximal that it isn't an option, but Razorbeast is just waiting for his opponent to get closer.  The Maximal fires upward at the side of the crevice, causing a small landslide and quickly transforms back to beast mode.  His nimble warthog mode is able to slip by Magmatron's Landsaur form as it is buried under tons of rock.  The impact of the rocks is enough so Magmatron's other two components are momentarily stunned thanks to their mind-link with each other, and Razorbeast takes the opportunity to ram the Seasaur component into the wall.  This causes more of the rocks to fall, burying all of Magmatron's components as the Maximals quickly escape.  Wolfang assumes that Magmatron is gone, but Razorbeast knows the Predacon has survived worse.  Meanwhile, in the Transwarp cruiser, Snarl decloaks behind Drill Bit and shoots him in the back, incapacitating him.  He and Optimus Minor leave with the Transwarp Signal Booster, their mission a success.  Later on that evening, the Maximals have regrouped and are tending to their wounded as Razorbeast examines the Signal Booster.  Unfortunately, the device is broken and needs replacement parts, but Razorbeast knows where to find them; aboard the Ark!  Elsewhere, Spittor and Drill Bit discuss the day's events.  They are both unnerved at Magmatron's apparent calmness at the news of losing the Signal Booster to the Maximals.  Suddenly, Magmatron arrives and produces the remains of the recently-destroyed Tripredacus Agent; Ravage.  While Ravage's body was destroyed, his spark core is still functional and Magmatron feels this conflict could use "a dash of Decepticon dogma"!  TO BE CONTINUED!


Slagged!:

-Spittor zaps Ramulus with a venomous tongue lash, knocking the Maximal off a mountain.

-Magmatron's Landsaur mode tears some holes in B'Boom off-panel, but Razorbeast manages to bury all three of the Predacon general's components under a few tons of cliffside.

-Drill Bit gets plugged in the back by Snarl's gun, knocking him off-line.  He lives to tell the tale of his failure to Magmatron, though.


Sightings:

-The massive assembly of Predacons on the first page include, from left to right moving down; Jetstorm, Buzzsaw, Lazorbeak, Scavenger, Retrax, Sky Shadow, Injector, Scourge, Snapper, Razorclaw, Powerpinch, Terragator, Buzzclaw, and Insecticon.  Of note is Scavenger, a Transmetal fire ant who was initially intended in the design stages to represent a Transmetal upgrade of Inferno.  However, since the original Inferno toy was still clogging shelves in stores at that point, Hasbro decided to rename the new toy to avoid associating it with Inferno.  Humorously and ironically, Transmetal Scavenger became a notorious shelf-clogger anyway.  Here, Simon Furman and Don Figueroa simply use Scavenger as a separate character from Inferno thanks to the different name, but one can clearly see the Inferno elements in his design.

-Drill Bit and Spittor are a bit worse for wear after the damage they incurred last issue.  Note that Drill Bit is still clutching his chest where Razorbeast skewered him and Spittor's pseudo-organic skin is shredded off on his left arm and leg.

-Razorbeast flashes back to Cybertron just before Magmatron's team went on their journey.  In that chamber, you can see a number of symbols on the wall, representing a lion, bird, bull, and a tiger.  These are clearly meant to represent four of the original Gen 1 Predacons- Razorclaw, Divebomb, Tantrum, and Rampage.  A word bubble is covering part of the image, but I'd imagine a symbol for a rhinoceros is under that, signifying the final member Headstrong.  There's also a Decepticon-ish statue there that I can't exactly identify, uh, geez, am I expected to know everything?  It's probably one of the Japanese-only characters.

-There's a page worth of Maximals shown presumably headed to rendezvous with Razorbeast's group.  The first image shows Stinkbomb, K9, Armordillo, Bantor, and Noctorro all trying to pull a beast mode Torca from some mud hole or swamp (Why doesn't Torca just transform?).  The next image shows Cybershark and Claw Jaw swimming, they being the aquatic Maximals and all.  The next image is Nightglider, Sonar, Prowl, and Air Hammer all flying towards their destination and the final image is that of a lonely Polar Claw beginning his solitary trek from the Arctic.  I guess some flying Predacon got Spittor out of there after his altercation with Polar Claw last issue.

-The scenery should be familiar from the TV show as Magmatron, Drill Bit, and Spittor examine where Ravage met his end; that's where the Axalon rested for two seasons of the TV show, after all.  Since a plesiosaur mode would be pretty useless anywhere other than water, Don Figueroa adds some little hover-jets to the underside of Magmatron's Seasaur component so it can get around on land.

-When Optimus Minor finds Ravage's downed Transwarp cruiser, check the rock face right in front of it.  You can see Rampage's impression in the rock after he took the business end of a giant rocket in the episode "The Agenda, Part 3".

-On Razorbeast's toy, his gun was a part of his beast mode mane that detached and could be held in his hand.  Here, Mr. Figueroa simply has the gun deploy from his back in robot mode, which could also be done on the toy as long as you simply kept the mane piece attached after transforming Razorbeast.

-Much like the original Optimus Prime and his spy component Roller, Magmatron can divide his consciousness up between his three forms.  And when one form feels pain, the others do too, as evidenced by what occurs in this issue.

-Snarl's ability to cloak is consistent with what his function is (Surprise Attack) and what is described in his back-of-box tech specs.

-Magmatron has found what remains of Ravage, but not his head, since Tarantulas' faithful little cyber-spiders accidentally knocked it into the water in the episode "Optimal Situation".


Hearings:

-Magmatron confirms what I speculated last review; Ravage was "trading" intelligence information with him on the side.

-Razorbeast reveals that his spark signature was altered on a molecular level to match that of a Predacon, which no doubt made his job as a double-agent much easier and probably explains why no one questioned his mammal beast mode amongst so many insects and reptiles.


Wreck and RULE!:

-Don's art still rocks; his beast modes have plenty of personality to them, and all are in more or less proper scale with each other.

-With so many characters, Furman makes an honest effort to narrow down panel-time to a few regulars.  Razorbeast, Magmatron, Drill Bit, Spittor, Ramulus, Optimus Minor, B'Boom, and Snarl all get character moments that shows how they each "tick".

-The battle in the crevice is a nice sequence, backlit by a cool "sunset" lighting effect.  Razorbeast proves that he may not be a big fight guy, but he's able to outwit a much more deadly opponent with limited options at his disposal.

-The promise of seeing Ravage (with a new body, no less) next issue is fairly enticing.  Magmatron seems to respect Ravage's Decepticon heritage, even though he seemingly criticized his ancestors just last issue while addressing his followers in flashback.


Wreck and ROT!:

-The damage Spittor had received seems to fluctuate at random in different panels.  Sometimes he just has some torn flesh, sometimes his arm and leg are purely skeletal, and in one panel he's outright missing his arm!  But it's all repaired by the end of the issue, so I guess it doesn't matter.

-The chronal displacement thing is a bit weird now; but I guess you have to assume that everyone of the TV show cast EXCEPT Ravage cannot detect or interact with Magmatron and Razorbeast's respective teams, since Magmatron recovers Ravage's remains and spark core by himself in this issue.  I guess it makes sense since Magmatron was secretly receiving info from Ravage.

-Razorbeast must be desperate for parts if he's willing to risk going into the Ark for them.  Not only is there the risk of history being changed, but it was established on the TV show that mixing Maximal and Autobot tech rarely ever works since there is a 300 year gap between them.

-Not much happens in this issue as a whole; it's mostly just a search for a plot device that doesn't really even pan out in the end.  For a four issue mini-series I expected a little more in terms of advancement in the second issue.


Final Judgment:

While still a good read and really nice eye candy, I wanted a little more out of this issue.  I just hope the pacing doesn't go into overdrive and everything is crammed into the next two issues.  Plus, while it's nice to see so many toy characters, most of them are just window-dressing while a few main characters advance the plot.  Don's art continues to amaze, and Furman's penchant for wordplay ("dash of Decepticon dogma") is still pretty fun to read.  While a weaker chapter than last issue, I'd still recommend this issue.  Peace.