The Wreckers

Whilst waiting on the next issue of 'More than meets the eye' I decided to see what other Transformer books were out there for me to read. The Transformers Prime tv series mentioned the Wreckers more than a few times (even had a couple members around). So feeling like I was missing part of a bigger story I've just finished reading the Last stand of the Wreckers and The sins of the Wreckers, Both were great books.

For those who don't know, the Wreckers are group of elite Autobots who work outside of the chain of command they're reckless and dangerous but they get the job done every time. Some of the members are familiar if you watched the tv show and the 1986 movie, Springer, Perceptor, Cup, even Ultra Magnus (as a commander, or more to try and direct the chaos), and the other faces are well fleshed out characters in their own right.

Whirl - One of my new favorite characters, not seen much in these 2 books but is in the more than meets the eye series a lot. The easiest way to describe him would be to call him the Harley Quinn or Deadpool of the Transformers universe, Occasionally breaking the fourth wall, insane, dangerous and a whole lot of fun.
But his story is a major part of the entire Transformers war and the Cybertronian  history in general. I could write an entire post on him completely but for this I'll stick to dot points
 - Pre-war Cybertron had a terrorist group/ political movement called the functionists, long story short they believe you must choose your job based on your alt form (transformation). Whirl transforms into a helicopter but chose to be a watchmaker. As punishment he was mutilated, his head and hands replaced for a head with no face and claws for hands.

- He joined the police force after that, and during his time as a cop (a corrupt cop at that) he was ordered to kill a prisoner in his cell, a pacifist caught up in a bar brawl, some guy named Megatron.

- Before he could finish completing his order he was caught and arrested by one, Orion Pax.

- After the war was in full swing between the Autobots and Decepticons, Optimus Prime approached Whirl in prison where he'd had a hard time and offered him early release if he offered his very special set of skills to the Autobot cause, and that's how he came to be a Wrecker.

Impactor - Another bot like Whirl, his life has been intertwined with some of the major events on Cybertron.
Long before the war, before there was even Autobots and Decepticons, Impactor was a miner who worked with and was friends with Megatron. Megatron was some what of an idealist at this point and had started writing a lot of his thoughts down.

Impactor thought Megatron's nonviolent solutions to Cybertron's class warfare were cute, and reminded him that there would always be a pecking order, no matter how large or small the equation. (tfwiki)









But everything changed for both of them, and all of Cybertron in general, when the 2 of them were interrupted during a few after work drinks and Impactor got himself into a fight.
That led to Megatron being arrested and the things that happened to him whilst in custody changed his non-violent ways.
Meanwhile Impactor was sent away to serve his sentence at Garrus-1 a prison, sometime after the war broke out Impactor joined the Wreckers.






Impactor went on to lead the Wreckers for a while, but any info on how or why he didn't stay their leader would be spoilers for the books.









Last but not least is Verity - The human member of the Wreckers, I personally don't know much about her but everything I've seen of her makes me want to find out more.
All I really know is that she was a stow away and Ultra Magnus has kind of taken her on as a ward.
She is pivotal in The Sins of the Wreckers though.

And an extra little Easter egg in More than meets the eye, Ultra Magnus uses her likeness as an avatar when they need to travel or be places where a giant robot wouldn't be wanted or practical.

Back to the books themselves, Last stand of the Wreckers, follows as a group of new recruits to the Wreckers go on their first mission, to rescue an Autobot prison which has been taken over by the Decepticons, More specifically a Decepticon named Overlord, he's a Phase Sixer (all but indestructible unstoppable warrior)

And The Sins of the Wreckers continues from where the Last stand of the Wreckers left, but has a completely different tone as Verity has set out to uncover Autobot corruption and Deception by Prowl.

So to finish off, I have been prattling on too long, if you're a Transformers fan and want to read about the other sides to the war, because being an Autobot doesn't always mean you're the good guy, I recommend giving these 2 books a read.

 
p.s. I know this next pic isn't from those books, but after talking about Whirl it seems fitting

                                                                                                           MAT