Luke Owen reviews the third chapter of Transformers Prime: Rage of the Dinobots…
SPAWNS OF SHOCKWAVE! The mind-blowing introduction of the DINOBOTS into the PRIME universe continues here! The Dinobots enter the belly of the beast in an attempt to save their comrades. But when SHOCKWAVE’s minions turn the tables, GRIMLOCK will have to decide whether to beat them…or join them!
The Transformers: Prime series continues to show signs of greatness with the 3rd part of the Rage of the Dinobots story arch. With Swoop now under the control of Ser-Ket, Grimlock and the rest of the Dinobots must fight not only to escape, but rescue their friend. Shockwave’s appearance is ever looming and Grimlock must face his deepest fear to take down Ser-Ket – himself.
I’m relatively new to the Transformers: Prime universe but only a couple of issues in and I am hooked. The superb artwork from Agustin Padilla is coupled beautifully with Mike Johnson and Mairghread Scott’s suspenseful and wonderfully written story to make this one of the best Transformer comic books out at the moment. As I said in my review for Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #13, I’ve received a lot of flak for not liking the series but when I read great comics like this I feel more justified in my disappointment of More Than Meets The Eye. This is a fantastic story well told with vibrant colours and explosive art – everything that comic series isn’t.
The genius of the comic lies in its suspense. Grimlock has to take down Ser-Ket and the only way he can do that is to give into his primal urges – that of his beast mode. When Grimlock enters that stage, just like Bruce Banner, he cannot control it. Thus we are given the emotional struggle of a man (or machine) that has to find out what lengths he will go to save one of his fellow Dinobots. It’s incredibly gripping and it will have you racing from panel to panel to find out where the story goes. It almost feels like a shame that you don’t get to take in all of the intricate details of Padilla’s work, but the story is so good that it demands a second read just to take it all in. The back and forth dialogue between Grimlock and Ser-ket is phenomenal and emotions from Grimlock to his fellow Dinobots and Ultra Magnus is very powerful. I’ve always liked Grimlock as a character, but this is far and away my favourite interpretation of him so far.
I cannot recommend Transformers: Prime – Rage of the Dinobots #3 highly enough. Of all the Transformers comics released today, this is the one I would pick up. A superb story well told with fantastic artwork to boot. It may not get as much coverage as More Than Meets The Eye or Robots in Disguise, but it deserves your attention. Plus, there’s a reference to one of Grimlock’s finest moments in The Transformers: The Movie. So what’s not to love?
Originally published February 6, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
