#The Micronaughts

[70sscifiart]

Cover artwork by Gerald Grace for The Micronaughts, by Gordon Williams

[hauntedstudentpatrol]

Cover artwork for The Micronaughts written by Gordon Williams. Unknown artist at least to me.

[combat2017]

Working on some New Flight Deck Decals..Escort Carrier and HMS Ark Royal. Will be available soon. Perfect size for Axis and Allies units. Only at Combatminiatures.org! #combatminiatures #axisandallies #instagood #wargaming #wargamers #flightdeck #micronaughts https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce1bQVfO8UG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[dfallen1969]

Holy action figures! @aarommeyers there's even a Rom action figure #actionfigure #collectors #rom #tranformers #actionman #micronaughts #gijoe

[phinmagic]

Acroyer Knight Titan Acroyer Knight Titan My Acroyer Knight Titan for my Imperial Armies. Made from a random mech model, the head of an Acroyer Micronaught, gun from a mech warrior toy and Gatling cannon from a GI Joe bike.

[allspark]

Kup, Blackrock, and GI Joe’s Mayday meet the Micronauts! Action Man finds himself stranded with no one to make clever quips to but himself! Revolutionaries #2 brings the title team together as they attempt to rescue Britain’s premier secret agent from a super villain fortress on the Moon.

Issue one laid the groundwork for the team. It set up a crisis that brought the disparate characters together. This issue is all about fitting those character together in a way to create what is essentially IDW’s Justice League.

    Thoughts and Synopsis

Actually, the Avengers might be the more accurate description. Garrison Blackrock, IDW’s take on the classic Marvel G1 Transformers human character G.B. Blackrock, was shown to be a Cybertronian Titan Master named Sovereign in the Titans Return miniseries. He was originally a servant of Onyx Prime, but those memories are gone to him. For the moment, at least. For now, he’s the snarky human CEO of a billion-dollar tech company who can turn his body into a sort of armoured form for flight and combat situations. Sound familiar? Yep. G.B. Blackrock always had a bit of a passing resemblance to Tony Stark. His IDW counterpart is now pretty much Iron Man.

This shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing though. The similarities are hard to shake, but Barber does a good enough job balancing the large cast that one character that has a passing similarity to a character from another comic company isn’t something to fret over. Barber is probably most at home writing Ian Noble, aka Action Man. The British spy is more Tourchwood character than James Bond with his dry wit and willingness to crack a joke regardless of the situation. Its clear Barber is having a blast with the character, and the interactions between him and frenemy Doctor X are the best scenes in the book.

The Micronauts are the weak link of the story. It’s not that their characters are bad in any way. The backstory of Microspace is incredibly interesting and these specific Micronaughts characters are perfectly fine in and of themselves. Oz Rael, Larissa, Acroyear, and Microtron get just enough lines to give us a general understanding of their characters. Phenolo-Phi and Acroyear, however, are just there. A title like this is a team book. The inclusion of a smaller team, pun not intended but relished, runs the risk of bloating an already sizable roster for one book. We haven’t reached critical mass yet, but I would like to see the Micronauts crew as a whole have a chance at some development. Otherwise what’s the point?

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed the book despite that criticism. Yes, the Micronaut crew was underused. Yes, Garrison Blackrock is essentially purple Iron Man. None of that took away from the enjoyment of the issue. The action was fast paced and the plot was intriguing. The mystery around the Talisman should be enough to carry a sizable portion of the IDW Revolution-verse for some time to come.

We just needed a bit more Rom!

What did you think? Join us at the Allspark forums to share your thoughts!

IDW Revolutionaries #2 Review Kup, Blackrock, and GI Joe's Mayday meet the Micronauts! Action Man finds himself stranded with no one to make clever quips to but himself!