Review: Transformers Primacy

Another TPB but this one of Transformers, a great cartoon and comic since before I was born. I can still remember the Hasbro Transformer of Rhinox as a kid. Quite possibly my favorite toy growing up and still hold a grudge with my sibling for breaking it. There have been some new movies that are trying to find the magic from the first movie, but can’t seem to hit the mark. The most recent Beast Wars was a bit of a miss. As a huge fan of that arc, I wish they focused more on the Transformers than the human characters.

Which is what I’m excited about for the new movie called Transformers One in which we are getting origin stories of Optimus Prime and Megatron. So because of this recent trailer release, I thought it would be a good time to revisit Transformers Primacy. My first TPB given to me from my friend, the first purchase I made was Saga Vol 1. A reminder I will be reviewing the following:

• Cover Art

• Story

• Overall Rating 5 star rating system from Comic Geeks App

Cover

Anytime you feature Optimus Prime on the cover of a comic I’m going to pick it up and read it. The artist of this book is Livio Ramondelli, who has a great portfolio of amazing Transformers illustrations. Check out an interview with him and Canvas Rebel in 2023 here. There are two other Autobots on the cover along with a third Transformer but no visible badge. We also get a glimpse of what I'm assuming is Cybertron. Their home planet and the one they are always trying to save from the civil war.

Here is an example of the action sequences and how the artwork is great but sometimes a bit hard to “see”

Story

I have collected some Transformers comics before, here and there some off issues as well as trying to collect the 2021 release of Beast Wars. With that being said, I have not read a full Transformers story from the first issue to the end. Which is really the entire reason why Trade Paperback books are the best because you get the entire release in one book and don’t need to go searching for individual issues. 

The story starts off with some indication that Cyberton was no longer going to be peaceful and an evil entity was going to emerge. I really like the opening scenes in which we see rival Autobots and Decepticons talking to each other and eventually arguing over who is being brainwashed by their leaders. 

We then are shown Optimus Prime and Ironhide on a wintery “vacation.” We see them climbing a mountain and upon getting to the top they spot some sort of figure in the distance, just standing still. After some careful reconnaissance, Optimus and Ironhide get closer and realize it’s an Omega Sentinel. 

This is my first time encountering something called an Omega Sentinel in the Transformers universe

Our story then takes us to Harmonex where we see Megatron trying to strike a deal with Trypticon to destroy the Autobots once and for all. I don’t want to give it all away but it’s a bit like good guys vs bad guys with a curveball here and there. Still a very good short and concise story. Now throughout the book the action scenes and fighting sequences are great, but the art itself is a bit “muddy.” In the sense that some things are hard to distinguish and find yourself squinting to really understand what you’re looking at.

One thing I REALLY liked about this trade paperback is that it included the variant covers that must have been released when the title was released by issue. It features the more clean type of illustrations and really gets you hyped up. 

This illustration by Sarah Stone is absolutely killer!

Overall 4 / 5

Now the main reason for the 4 out of 5 rating on this is simply because of the artwork. I really like the styling but for a comic it just made it a little hard to follow along. As I was reading I had to stop more often and for a longer time to digest what I’m looking at. But as I mentioned before, I like that it was short, concise and didn't leave me wondering what is what or if I need to read previous stories to understand the plot.

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