Now that Transformers: Combiner Wars has premiered, fans of the Hasbro characters and/or IDW comics storyline can finally see their favorite bots in action. And there's plenty of action to be found in the first five-minute episode in the series, one that opens with metal-crunching mayhem as two massive Combiners - revealed to be Computron and Menasor - battle through space. Their metallic fists are just the first to fly as Autobots and Decepticons alike attempt to control (or eliminate) the threat posed by the massive Combiners.
The Machinima creation, a digital-first series appearing on the go90 platform, will be rolled out each Tuesday for a total of eight episodes. The first episode is available for your viewing pleasure now, but I've had to the opportunity to preview the next few installments. I have to say, despite some initial concerns with the dialogue and voice acting in the first episode, I warmed up to the flow and presentation of the short episodes fairly quickly. The animation style is gorgeous, a unique portrayal of computer-generated characters and backgrounds that allow the huge Combiners to move in a way that communicates their mass, while smaller fighters like Windblade are much faster and more graceful in the ever-present combat.
The pieces of the puzzle slowly start to come together, but the short runtime for each episodes means that the writers have to get everything across as quickly as possible while still cramming each installment full of one-on-one robot battles. (Oh, and those battles? Some of the most realistic and "battle damage"-inducing you'll ever see between these particular giant metal robots.) The story begins to gel as more characters (including some surprises) are brought into the fray. It remains to be seen just how effective the short episodes and overall series will be, but for a free Transformers show at only five minutes a pop, Transformers: Combiner Wars is definitely worth your time.
Image via Machinima[/caption]
