Transformers Beast Wars 2: The Ascending [ペーパーバック]

This is a great follow up to the 90s CGI cartoon, Beast Wars and a precursor to its sequel, Beast Machines. While the end of Beast Wars was fairly cut-and-dried, the sequel, Beast Machines, began in media res and never really offered any closure about what went so wrong planetside during the interval.

The art is, like the previous collection, Beast Wars: The Gathering, very detailed and leaves little to be wished for. This is especially true of a selection of characters that only appeared as McDonald's Happy Meal toys and never entered any story significance until now. Just the fact that all these toys are being fleshed out, if only briefly, is amazing in itself. I always wondered what Snapper would have been doing during the Beast Wars... There is a huge downer at the end of the paperback though as the art shifts to what seems to be a different color pallet, flat colors in general, less detailing on everything from characters to backgrounds, and this continues for approximately eight pages. What is the most strange about this is the last page. It does an about face and returns to the beautiful detailing, coloring, and inking of the remainder of the work.

The story is decent, at least by Transformers standards and is easily followed. There is a bit too much time spent on building up the story which may prove tedious on repeat readings. For the first shot however, it is hardly noticed at all. Unfortunately, being a short paperback means the end comes rather abruptly and mostly within the final issue of the series.

Altogether, this work on its own is really not a must have unless you know the television series it is based on. If you own these or even just saw these cartoons, please, do yourself a favor and get both this and Beast Wars: The Gathering. It really does tie up many loose ends in Beast Machines and adds a deal of depth to Beast Wars. Everything will make much more sense and you will love the nods to character traits and toy tech specs. To be warned though there are enormous amounts of the Japanese versions of toys placed throughout the book as well which is more of a treat for fans but may irk some who didn't follow them ten years ago. If you ever quoted "Truck not Munkey" or only paid attention to the vehicle ages of Transformers, you can pass on this. It may just confuse you without the background information already established in the television programs and toys.

If like me you loved the Beast Wars cartoon from the 90's, then you will love this. While not following the stories and characters of the cartoon, it does elaborate on what happened to all the stasis pods that crashed to Earth in the cartoon, and expands on the universe of the Transformers toys. I never subscribed to the belief that transforming animals were not Transformers. Robots in Disguise are still Robots in Disguise. And if you bought the great toys that came out with the cartoon, you know that many characters never saw the light of day in the cartoon. Well, here they do. While many characters receive lip service only, it is still fun to see them transform and fight on the comics page. With a great forword, respect for the source material, and a tongue in cheek story, this is a decent Sunday afternoon nostalgia read.

As a huge Beast Wars fan I enjoyed reading this book for its artwork, but the writing can't compare to the TV show (which is better written than most adult shows I might add).