Beast Wars: The Gathering # 4
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by Don Figueroa

Summary:

We open with a report from Predacon Sky Shadow to field commander Ravage; he's located the Maximals' base camp.  Ravage orders all Predacon units to converge on Sky Shadow's position as they prepare to finish the Maximals off for good.  Elsewhere, Razorbeast and Optimus Minor watch in amazement as the newly-arrived Grimlock easily takes care of Iguanus and Drill Bit.  Minor wonders aloud if this is actual “The” Grimlock, which Razorbeast confirms; he was on the Axalon's crew manifest, only in a stasis pod.  Razorbeast knows this is as good a distraction as any and orders Minor into action.  Grimlock has finished tearing Iguanus to pieces, commenting that he's usually grouchy after being in stasis for so long and needs something to work his aggression out on.  Magmatron is infuriated at the Maximal's interference but also conscious of the fact that he has little time before the Transwarp shunt that will return him to Cybertron with the captive Megatron.  He tells Grimlock to withdraw or be destroyed, but the former Autobot doesn't know the meaning of the word.  So Magmatron splits into his three beast modes and tears into his new adversary.  As Grimlock and Magmatron fight, Optimus Minor sneaks by unnoticed and snatches one of the Predacons' chronal phase armbands that allowed them to capture Megatron in the first place.  Meanwhile at the Maximal temporary base camp, Snarl has almost finished cobbling together the Transwarp signal booster.  B'Boom has his doubts that it will work, and Snarl mostly agrees; they will only have one, slim chance at this that will only last for a few seconds, so luck will be a big factor in the signal booster's operation.  Unfortunately it seems the Maximals' luck has almost run out, as Predacons begin gathering in the sky above their lair.  Back at the Predacon Transwarp gantry, Magmatron is overwhelming Grimlock, despite the Maximal's durability.  The Predacon general finally manages to batter Grimlock into unconsciousness, with more than enough time to spare before returning to Cybertron.  Magmatron transforms back to robot mode and addresses the disabled and unconscious Megatron lying on the Transwarp pad.  He really doesn't have any personal problem with Megatron, but he needs to appear loyal to the Tripredacus Council for the time being, and the best way to do that is deliver the renegade Predacon to them for trial.  Magmatron muses that perhaps one day there will be a place for Megatron in the new Predacon regime he hopes to install.  Suddenly Magmatron hears a familiar voice from behind him; Razorbeast has decided to confront the Predacon general head-on.  Eager to settle the score with the double-agent, Magmatron turns to face him, a smug grin on his face.  Meanwhile, the Predacons under the direction of Ravage have massed around the Maximal lair.  Manterror reports that there are at least five to six Maximals hiding in the cave and there are no automated defenses in place.  Ravage orders the ground troops to move to the flanks and flush the Maximals out of their hiding place.  Inside the cave, Snarl and the others go through a trial run of sending a signal back to Cybertron.  But much to Snarl's dismay, they don't seem to have enough time to do it before the signal booster burns out.  Suddenly the entire cave shakes, and Ramulus and Bonecrusher announce the Predacons' arrival.  Outside, Predacon fliers bombard the cave walls with firepower, trying to make the Maximals rush outside.  Inside, Snarl orders the others to vacate and he'll try to send the signal himself.  While the others don't like this, they know they need to draw fire away from Snarl, so B'Boom, Wolfang, Ramulus, and Bonecrusher transform to beast modes and charge outside.  Meanwhile at the Predacon Transwarp gantry, Magmatron admits that there is a certain pleasure in killing Razorbeast himself, and moves to strike the small Maximal.  However, his blow suddenly passes right through Razorbeast as if he were a ghost.  Razorbeast appears behind Magmatron and blasts him in the back.  He reveals that he's wearing the chronal phase armband that Optimus Minor stole earlier, allowing him to phase back and forth between chronal synchs and avoid Magmatron's attacks.  Enraged at his inability to hit Razorbeast, Magmatron lashes out in rage, but the clever Maximal picks his moments carefully and is able to get several clean shots at the Predacon.  Back over in the vicinity of the Maximal lair, things are not going as well.  Wolfang realizes the Predacons are simply taking potshots at them to corral them into a corner.  Soon the four Maximals are completely surrounded and Ravage orders his forces to finish them off.  Suddenly a primal scream sounds across the land, and the Predacons turn to see another large contingent of Maximals arriving on the scene, led by the enormous Torca.  The newly-arrived Maximals catch the Predacons completely off-guard, tearing into them with ferocity and quickly changing the tide of battle.  Meanwhile at the Transwarp gantry, Razorbeast continues to fire upon Magmatron and avoid his counterattacks, but the Maximal's meager firepower just isn't doing enough damage to the large Predacon.  But it doesn't matter, because Optimus Minor leaps back into the scene and removes the chronal shift device that had been clamped to the still unconscious Megatron.  Without it, Megatron fades back into his correct chronal phase, where Magmatron cannot interact with him anymore.  Magmatron tries to leap and stop Minor, but ends up flopping onto the Transwarp pad just as it prepares for transport.  Razorbeast blasts the control panel just as the pad enacts a Transwarp shunt, sending a screaming Magmatron to parts unknown.  Back in the vicinity of the Maximal lair, the Maximals have driven off the Predacon forces.  Seeing the battle is lost, Ravage retreats from his command position on the mountain top and prepares to re-organize the Predacon forces.  Torca and Wolfang hold conference; Torca reveals that all the Maximals heard Razorbeast's “Gathering” call and were headed towards the area, picking up whomever they found along the way.  Working together, the Maximals dig Snarl out of the cave.  He tells them that he managed to send the signal back to Cybertron, but doesn't know if it was received.  Wolfang suggests they get comfortable, since signal received or not, they are going to be on Earth for awhile and the Predacons will undoubtedly return.  Two weeks later, the Maximals are well on their way to building a more permanent base camp to maintain a protective presence on Earth.  Prowl notices Razorbeast sitting by himself by a river and asks what is wrong.  Razorbeast says that he knows Megatron is going to continue his war with Optimus Primal's crew of Maximals and his efforts to conquer Cybertron, but even when Razorbeast had Megatron unconscious and at his mercy; he couldn't risk tampering with the timeline by eliminating the renegade Predacon, although it was very tempting.  Prowl acknowledges that Razorbeast made the right call by not tampering, and thinks they should focus on “their” Beast Wars now.  Razorbeast turns and looks appreciatively to his new comrade, ready to continue the fight.


Slagged!:

-Drill Bit gets clocked by Grimlock's tail, sending him up into a tree branch.  And Iguanus gets his head bitten and his arm ripped off by the giant raptor.

-Grimlock and Magmatron tear into each other with utmost ferocity, but Magmatron's beast modes have the numerical advantage and he beats the Maximal into submission.

-Razorbeast pretty much shoots Magmatron as much as he wants, but it doesn't seem to have much effect on the Predacon general other than slowing him down.

-The Maximals beat the holy heck out of the Predacons in a glorious two-page spread that I'll detail down in Sightings.


Sightings:

-Ravage's Transmetal 2 beast mode can “rocket-gallop”, much like Transmetal 2 Cheetor in the TV show.

-The remaining Predacons under Ravage's command include Jetstorm, Buzzsaw, Lazorbeak, Sky Shadow, Buzzclaw, Terragator, Manterror, Snapper, Insecticon, Spittor, Scavenger, and Scourge.  Scarem also shows up in the big battle spread scene, but has been nowhere in evidence up until that point.

-The Maximals that come to the rescue of Wolfang's group include Nightglider, Sonar, Armordillo, Torca, Air Hammer, Bantor, Noctorro, Cybershark, Prowl, Claw Jaw, Polar Claw, Stinkbomb, and K9.

-Torca is noticeably HUGE in this series, whereas he's only a deluxe size toy.  I guess it's to represent the whale side of his Fuzor beast mode, but still, I don't think whales are THAT big.  I guess it was a stylistic choice on either Figueroa or Furman's part.

-Okay, here we go, a dissection of the big fight scene, from left to right-

*Sonar gets out of the way as B'Boom missiles Lazorbeak pretty much near to scrap.

*Polar Claw relentlessly pummels Terragator, who is cowering under his shield.

*Bonecrusher uppercuts Scavenger, sending the Transmetal ant's teeth all over the place.

*Similarly, Wolfang gives a mean right cross to Manterror's face, knocking some of the Predacon's mouth guard out.

*Jetstorm is being snared by one of Claw Jaw's tentacles, which he's extending from nearly the other half of the scene.

*Noctorro and Buzzclaw face off in the sky.

*Prowl and Sky Shadow face off in the sky.

*Bantor jumps on Scourge's back and tears one of his wings off.

*Air Hammer slashes at Buzzsaw, who is caught in the stomach by one of Torca's tusks.

*Cybershark and Razorclaw fight close-quarters.

*K9 sends Snapper to the ground with a punch.

*Nightglider leaps with his sword towards Insecticon.

*Torca has Spittor dangling from his other tusk, who is hanging on for dear life.  Armordillo watches the spectacle, somewhat amused, from his vantage point on Torca's head.

*Injector tries to gain altitude as Stinkbomb holds on to his leg from below.

*Ramulus punches Scarem.  Of note, this is Scarem's ONLY appearance in the actual series aside from being on one of the covers to issue # 1.

-As the Predacons retreat, we see they've left some bits behind.  K9 is holding one of Insecticon's insect legs, and we see Scourge's wing and Terragator's shield lying around.  And poor Insecticon himself is sprawled out on the ground, trying to escape as well.

-The Maximals we see helping build the new base camp include Torca, Grimlock, Bonecrusher, and B'Boom.

-As Razorbeast reflects on his choice at the end, we see a scene of Transmetal 2 Megatron fighting with Optimus Primal, Cheetor, and Rhinox.  This scene is probably from the episode “Master Blaster”.

-And for the fun of it, here are the unique Beast Wars toys that didn't show up in this series, aside from the show cast-

*Transmetal 2 Maximal Jawbreaker (Except on the cover to issue # 1)

*Transmetal 2 Predacon Scarem (Well, in one scene this issue, and the cover to issue # 1, but nowhere else)

*Transmetal 2 upgrades of Spittor, Iguanus, and Cybershark (Looks like Iguanus is due for an upgrade after his mauling by Grimlock this issue)

*Mutant Razor Claw

*Magnaboss (And by extension his three components, Prowl (different Prowl than the one who shows up here), Ironhide, and Silverbolt (different character than the show Silverbolt).)

*Tripredacus (Well, we saw the three members of the Tripredacus Council, and they are supposed to represent those characters, but not in their beast forms (Cicadacon, Ram Horn, and Sea Clamp).)


Hearings:

-It's confirmed that it is “The” Grimlock of Gen 1 lore.  He was in stasis on the Axalon, presumably for transport or security.  Or possibly, as some fans suggested; to keep an eye on Protoform X/Rampage in case something goes wrong.


Wreck and RULE!:

-Don + art = love.  The two-page battle scene spread is especially impressive.

-I'm kind of glad Grimlock didn't win against Magmatron, because this let Razorbeast be the hero of the series.  Which, admittedly he should be, since he's pretty much the main character.  And the little pig even gets to be a badass at the end too- “Bon voyage”.  I wouldn't have minded Grimlock at least transforming though.

-Magmatron is also a pretty compelling villain.  He manages to defeat a veritable “legend” in combat (whether he knows it or not) when he downs Grimlock.  He even considers Megatron to have a use in the new Predacon order he wishes to build.  He carries the nobility and civility that a decorated general should, unlike Megatron, who is pretty much just a criminal mastermind at best.  If Magmatron was sent back to Cybertron when Razorbeast sabotaged the Transwarp shunt, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do to the Tripredacus Council about why he's empty-handed.

-The stage is all set up for future adventures with these characters, and there are so many of them to explore that I think they could maintain an ongoing series instead of a mini-series.  But hey, I'm not Chris Ryall, so whatever he thinks is best for the company.


Wreck and ROT!:

-I don't know what kind of raptor Don is specifically using as a model for Grimlock, but I don't think any raptor species has more than three fingers on each hand.  In several scenes, Grimlock has four fingers in beast mode.

-If Grimlock was in stasis on the Axalon, and Primal knew it, why the heck didn't he make finding this guy his top priority?  Not only is Grimlock a badass and an incredible warrior, but he's a former Autobot with historical information that could have been used to better defend the Ark or any number of applications.  It just seems weird that the Maximals in the TV show seemed reverent of their Autobot ancestors, almost as if the Autobots were legends or myths, yet they apparently were carrying TWO classic Autobots in their stasis pods (Grimlock and Prowl, if you believe Prowl's tech specs where it implies he is the original Gen 1 Prowl).  My only speculation is that Optimus Primal was unaware of exactly who he was carrying in his stasis pods and Razorbeast, being a high-level special Maximal agent, was given full access to the Axalon's confidential crew manifest.

-The Predacons mostly seemed to get the shaft in this series.  Both character development-wise and action-wise.  Sure they were taken by surprise, but you think it wouldn't have been as one-sided a fight as this issue had it.  The combined Maximal force utterly thrashes them with seemingly little effort.  And I really hate how the best impression we got out of most of the Predacons were that they're all one-note thugs.  Geez, some of them used to be Maximals, you'd think the shell program would just make them evil, not stupid.

-It's unclear where Magmatron was sent.  One would assume back to Cybertron empty-handed, where the implication is that he'd be punished by the Tripredacus Council.  But Razorbeast blasts the council right before Magmatron disappears, so it's possible the entire array malfunctioned and sent Magmatron somewhere else or trapped him in “limbo”.  Well, in any case, we'll probably find out next series.

-What's Megatron to think of all this?  “Huh, Magmatron was here, and I was knocked out and now I just woke up and no one's around.  Guess its back to business.”  I would have liked to see some reaction from him to what little he saw and what he plans to do about it.  Either that or he just assumed the situation resolved itself. 

-Razorbeast's worries about tampering with the timeline make little sense.  The Beast Wars are still going on; it's not like it is a historic event.  And besides, it's more likely that eliminating Megatron would probably stop further tampering with the timeline than leaving him alive.  Coupled with Razorbeast's earlier insistence of taking stuff from the Ark as opposed to the remains of the Axalon, his reasoning as far as preserving history seems a little flawed.  Perhaps it has something to do with the whole “different chronal phases” thing Furman has cooked up, but it's not spelled out for us in any fashion.


Final Judgment:

Honestly, I thought this part was the weakest of the bunch, but the whole of this series remains solid.  The subtitle of this series was “The Gathering” and it did what it promised; got all the toy characters together.  But once they were together, all Furman did with them pretty much was just mash them together.  Ravage and Grimlock were nice to see, but they really didn't contribute much of anything to the story overall other than showing up.  Razorbeast and Magmatron are probably the characters who take the most away from this story in terms of development, with Snarl and Drill Bit following close behind.  We now know that this series was a set up for future Beast Wars minis, but as I mentioned, with so many characters a writer could easily sustain an ongoing.  Oh well.  Still, if nothing else, the art is beautiful and I must thank IDW for giving us this series in the first place.  But I can't help but wonder if six issues would have given this series a more fleshed-out cast and a stronger note to walk away on.  Peace.


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