kasss's review
3.5
2023: Actually better the second time around. The problem isn’t that it’s not good, it’s that you’re watching the majority of the characters make shitty decisions without payoff (yet).
2022: Not entirely fair to read this after More Than Meets The Eye and judge it based on that but... Let's say I'm looking forward to see how this picks up.
2022: Not entirely fair to read this after More Than Meets The Eye and judge it based on that but... Let's say I'm looking forward to see how this picks up.
enriquedcf's review
4.0
Obviously this is not as good as More Than Meets the Eye, but it is still pretty good. Though the art is somewhat lacking, the overall plot about how hard it is to rule after war is very interesting and makes some strong points about the flaws of the "good side" in this war.
Hopefully upcoming arcs go deeper on these issues and gets better art.
Hopefully upcoming arcs go deeper on these issues and gets better art.
adelaidemetzger_robotprophet's review
4.0
John Barber is the Transformers guy. You need a Transformers writer, Barber is it. Any time, any situation, any character, Barber is the one to go to because he may just be the biggest TF fan but takes care and patience with this universe. I’ll save my comparing More Than Meets the Eye and this series for the conclusion since I want to concentrate on Barber’s story here.
As much as I like John Barber and respect him for how he’s revolutionized the Transformers comics, the emotion I crave isn’t completely here. Politics take over the plot--which is an interesting motivator for the plot in a Transformers series--but that’s the epic take here. Now that the war is over, and Earth is pretty much out of the picture, it was almost inevitable to have a branch of the series based on a recovering Cybertron and what it would be like if Autobots and Decepticons formed a government and tried to make peace. But this first volume just wasn’t as emotional as I’d like. But I won’t let that phase me too much because this is necessarily an introduction to the Robots in Disguise series and introductions set you up for a helluva storm when it happens.
One thing that racked my brain in this volume was how it addresses a natural issue that almost every series so far has failed to mention: Not every Cybertronian is on a side--in fact, most Cybertronians are factionless. It was a startling detail to think about and I found myself understanding it through us humans’ personal experiences. As of this review, there’s a war going on in the middle east. Some people have been called to fight as soldiers, some have chosen to fight for a chance at a better future. But then there’s the percentage of the world’s population that either can’t fight or just wants to get on with their lives. In Robots in Disguise, John Barber makes the Cybertronians in this third party one of the driving forces in his plot. Since the beginning of Transformers, the idea of AUTOBOTS AGAINST DECEPTICONS!!! has catched little boys’ attention and been all us fans know of the robotic race--we haven’t not been exposed to a long term Cybertron of peace before and I love where it is going.
I’ve read up to volume #4 in More Than Meets the Eye thus far, and I can’t help but think of the differences in writing. The big difference is this: MTMTE has its plot driven by its characters and their relationships, while RID has its plot driven by the characters’ powerplay over each other. I lean more toward More Than Meets the Eye because I love when emotions explode and that’s what happens when you grow attached to characters and their relationships. But Robots in Disguise is a MUST have for any Transformers fan and I look forward to getting the rest of the series.
As much as I like John Barber and respect him for how he’s revolutionized the Transformers comics, the emotion I crave isn’t completely here. Politics take over the plot--which is an interesting motivator for the plot in a Transformers series--but that’s the epic take here. Now that the war is over, and Earth is pretty much out of the picture, it was almost inevitable to have a branch of the series based on a recovering Cybertron and what it would be like if Autobots and Decepticons formed a government and tried to make peace. But this first volume just wasn’t as emotional as I’d like. But I won’t let that phase me too much because this is necessarily an introduction to the Robots in Disguise series and introductions set you up for a helluva storm when it happens.
One thing that racked my brain in this volume was how it addresses a natural issue that almost every series so far has failed to mention: Not every Cybertronian is on a side--in fact, most Cybertronians are factionless. It was a startling detail to think about and I found myself understanding it through us humans’ personal experiences. As of this review, there’s a war going on in the middle east. Some people have been called to fight as soldiers, some have chosen to fight for a chance at a better future. But then there’s the percentage of the world’s population that either can’t fight or just wants to get on with their lives. In Robots in Disguise, John Barber makes the Cybertronians in this third party one of the driving forces in his plot. Since the beginning of Transformers, the idea of AUTOBOTS AGAINST DECEPTICONS!!! has catched little boys’ attention and been all us fans know of the robotic race--we haven’t not been exposed to a long term Cybertron of peace before and I love where it is going.
I’ve read up to volume #4 in More Than Meets the Eye thus far, and I can’t help but think of the differences in writing. The big difference is this: MTMTE has its plot driven by its characters and their relationships, while RID has its plot driven by the characters’ powerplay over each other. I lean more toward More Than Meets the Eye because I love when emotions explode and that’s what happens when you grow attached to characters and their relationships. But Robots in Disguise is a MUST have for any Transformers fan and I look forward to getting the rest of the series.
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