Transformers Infiltration 5 Review

Transformers Infiltration 5

 Summary :

Megatron regards Verity with mild disinterest, before disregarding her as  the whole bunker starts to collapse. 

The bunker is turning in to a sinkhole, everybody manages to get out alive though Verity  almost  is swallowed by the collapsing dirt and debris. 

As the Autobots turn tail and get  out  of  there, Megatron smashes his  way  to the surface, to the  dismay of both Decepticons and Autobots. 

The Autobots however aren't even on Megatron's radar.  He deals swiftly and harshly with  the two Decepticons before continuing his way to  Oregon, to put his house back in order. 

Ratchet relays his theory as what  has happened to Prowl. 

Starscream's infiltration unit by accident discovered a rich new energon  variant, they could use directly. Exhausting the seam they vacated the Nebraska bunker in favor of the Oregon bunker  which has a much  riche seam  engaging siege mode to protect  their  latest find.

and the Autobots are stuck in the middle.   

Credits :Writer : Simon Furman, 

Artist:  E J Su,

Colors by : John Rauch and Josh Burcham,

Letters by :  Tom B Long and Robbie Robins.

Editor  : Chris Ryall.  

Notes  :

Ore 13 is  finally  mentioned by name and what it does exactly. 

Review:

Yes, result  !

In a  slightly lopsided  manner,  but after  the plot spinning it's wheels in 3 and 4  it's finally moving forward again.

However, let's get the bad out of the way first. 

Issue 5 is still  partially spinning it's wheels and at least half the issue is given over to the  Nebraska bunker, turning in to a sinkhole and nearly burying Verity and Hunter. 

It has to be dealt with, but feels rather perfunctory.  

And  it takes too long on the whole, but that's as far as the bad  points go.

Issue 5  also  gives us the conclusion to that cliffhanger of issue 4.

And while Verity  can only stare, she and  as such the whole of humanity simply don't rate for Megatron. 

He glances at her, mentally dismisses her and then proceeds to ignore her.

She simply isn't worth the time and effort to threaten or kill. She simply doesn't matter. 

And it's not hard to believe that Megatron considers the rest of humanity in a similar manner.  

This is a huge  paradigm shift  for the character  and the first time he has been depicted in this cold detached manner.

Turning him in to a more then credible threat. The previous Megatron's have been depicted in various states, but  never  quite  as a credible threat save for Beast Machines Megatron and that's because  he was  turned in tot he Cybertronain equivalent of  Hitler that  came so close to winning it was scary.  * 

The Beast Wars Megatron on the other hand, was a  shade too vaudevillian  to be  threatening and the cartoon G1 Megatron was simply a tit, that  is in no way  to be taken seriously. 

Comic G1 Megatron  veered wildly between a psychotic lunatic and  a campy  wannabe villain, which makes it harder to take him serious as well. Though the later reGeneration series  rather amped up  his  psychotic tendencies to the nth degree.

What happened to Megatron  later along the line in the IDW series,  in More Then Meets The Eye  and a character turn I  certainly do not  care for, nor support, nor believe in,  (  but we will see that when, we get there along the line  )  not withstanding. This is a paradigm shift for the character, showing him to be cold  calculated and detached.  

The issue  further ramps up Megatron's  threat level  by  having him take out Skywarp and  Blitzwing in  quick brutal  succession, with nary a scratch  nor flinching. 

They, like Verity simply do not rate and he takes them out  as  easy  as  swatting a fly.

Megatron is  able  to  decimate  two Decepticons  the  Autobots  had  trouble handling, 

the Autobots are out of their depth and they know it. 

Which finally  forces Prowl's hand  to do something.  Even if that something might not be  much  beyond trying to contain  the conflagration at best, or becoming collateral damage at worst.  

The whole reason  for this series to be there, the mysterious  power source finally gets it's name  in ore 13. 

Unfortunally,  other then appearing  in a few arcs. A mention in a spotlight or two  and  fuelling  Stormbringer ore-13  is one of the balls that  will be getting dropped until John Barber picks  up  the thread  and  runs with it at least  5  years later. 

Infiltration 5 can't be faulted for that, but hindsight is always  20-20  and  in the long run ore-13,  like the facsimiles  don't  fulfil their promises.

We also finally  get to  hear what's going on. The infiltration unit broke protocol under  the lead of Starscream, engaging in siege mode to protect the seam of ore 13.

Megatron himself has  come down to earth to put his house on order. 

Which is where the issue comes to an end. 

I am running out of superlatives to describe EJ Su's art, so suffice to say that it's as  great as ever. Even id the  sinkhole section of the  issue stretches out for far too long.   The depiction of Megatron and the frightening ease with which he takes out  two of his own Decepticons with no hassle or care  is breathtakingly realised  even a decade later.

Infiltration might have been spinning its wheels a bit and it could have been  compressed a bit more without losing much, but it's still a well paced, well illustrated story. That is currently  heading for it's  conclusion. 

Issue 5  is a return to form. 

( *Hi Godwin)