Transformers vs The Terminator // Review

Pop culture crossovers are often considered to come from a lack of imagination. And yet, so many recent pop culture crossovers have been nothing short of fantastic. In this case, the crossover seems like such an obvious crossover that it’s shocking no one has come up with it first. Both franchises were born in 1984, have been featured on TV, movies, comic books, video games, and action figures galore. Both feature charismatic main characters fighting against cartoonishly evil forces, with human sidekicks getting in the way and needing to be protected. 

What two franchises?

Transformers vs The Terminator.

The story for this collected volume is by David Mariotte, Tom Waltz, and John Barber. The actual script is by Mariotte and Barber. Transformers art legend Alex Milne provides the book’s looks here. David Garcia Cruz colors the book, while Jake M. Wood letters the book.

The year is 2029, and Skynet sends back the last hope to annihilate the Cybertronians who have infested the Earth and eliminated humanity. Landing in 1984, the T-800 model infiltration unit accidentally recruits Sarah Conner to guide him to Mount St. Hillary to prevent the resurrection of the Cybertronians and their 4 million year war on Earth. When he fails, an uneasy alliance is drawn between the Terminator, Sarah Connor, and the Autobots to make sure the Decepticons can’t wipe out life on Earth. But can anyone be trusted?

There’s no deep analysis of what it means to be an eternal robot fighting a never-ending war. There’s no look into humans fighting the fact that which they have not yet made. This is just pure, awesome, action figures smacking into one another and blowing things up. The story is an inventive blend of the 1984 Terminator movie and the first few episodes of the original Transformers cartoon, and it’s a blast. The mad lads behind the book slip in plenty of callbacks, both in the art and in the dialogue. Optimus Prime and Megatron quote their lines from the 1986 movie while the Terminator quotes “Come with me if you want to live,” but the comic never becomes self-parody. Sure, it winks to the audience a lot, but it’s like the better Transformers movies: turn off your brain, have a blast.

Alex Milne is fantastic in this book, with some genuinely creative action that involve a normal sized “human” fighting multi-story robots and still making it seem like the smaller bot may actually have a chance. Sarah and the T-800 don’t look too close to their original actors, but it’s one of those things you’ll often run into in licensed comics featuring humans rather than immortal cartoon robots. Perhaps the only weakness is that the future doesn’t quite seem as dystopian as it has been in the Terminator movies. Maybe the Cybertronians are just neater in their destruction than Skynet.

Oh, and did we mention that the cast is more diverse with fan-favorites since 1984?

This is an amazingly fun roller coaster of a comic with an ending that feels like it’s setting up a sequel. We can only hope a sequel does come eventually, but fans shouldn’t wait to pick this one up.

Grade: A-