Transformers Ongoing #14

Two Autobots felled in the past two issues and the punishment is only beginning! A shocking revelation and an unexpected attack begins the “REVENGE OF THE DECEPTICONS,” the storyline that leaves a lot more Autobots on the operating table, and their entire future on Earth in question.

After being taken away from Earth in Transformers #13 to view the fate of Rodimus and resurrection of Megatron, Transformers #14 primarily returns the focus back to Earth. The action in Transformers #14 resumes immediately following the potential assassination of Bumblebee by a human while Bumblebee was attempting to address the reason for recent Autobot action in Asia. The imminent fate of Bumblebee is revealed in Transformers #14 while Optimus and crew return from the Asian battles against the Combaticons and most of the Predacons. The issue then concludes with a big cliffhanger that hints how the war between the Autobots and Decepticons will resume…with a new twist.

Ongoing writer Mike Costa continues his run with the Ongoing series and answers quite a few questions that readers had over the last few issues. Did Bumblebee survive? Could an ordinary man have a gun that could take out a Transformer? Where’s Ultra Magnus? All of those questions are addressed in a satisfactory way throughout the issue. Rising tensions are present in this issue and Costa manages the escalation of emotion quite well in this issue. In order to fully explain the story in this issue, there is quite a bit of focus on the humans. While the intensity keeps up the entire issue, those fans who only enjoy scenes with Transformers may be a little disappointed in the issue. There’s also a small continuity error regarding the freedom of a certain Decepticon.

Don Figueroa resumes art duties for Transformers #14, having taken the reigns for Issues 1 through 6. His designs for the characters in the ongoing, which was a hot-button issue with fans during the run, are back but with some minor tweaks. The “glowing eyeballs” have been replaced by solid optics for eyes along with a few other minor changes to make characters look more familiar to the passing fan. The designs of his humans have also changed, to a more comical look. One’s preference regarding which artist’s designs they like best throughout the ongoing run thus far is subjective, but it is once again jarring to the reader to go through the back-and-forth art changes. For the first time in the ongoing run, J. Brown isn’t on colors within the contents of the issue (he’s on covers). Instead, Andrew Dalhouse covers colors. He manages to match his style pretty well with that featured by J. Brown throughout the run, so don’t expect to be thrown off too much by the colors featured within.

Transformers #14, like Issue #13, is a set-up issue for the next upcoming arc. While Issue #13 focused on the resurrection of Megatron and the likely reunification of Decepticons forces, Transformers #14 sets up the Autobot and human sides. Even though so focus is taken away from the Transformers throughout the issue, tensions run high and in turn make Transformers #14 a good read that keeps one’s interest throughout. The cliffhanger also hints at an upcoming story arc that will take a slightly different turn that what we’ve seen throughout the IDW Transformers stories over the last few years.

Overall Rating: 3.5

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