Part three of Destiny is finally here. Does it continue the Regeneration One saga with delivering another quality issue? There’s plenty to like in this well-paced story.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

BATTLETIDE! Opposing factions and forces meet head on, as the battle for Cybertron (and indeed the future) begins in earnest. BLUDGEON, SOUNDWAVE, GALVATRON, STARSCREAM, and-caught in the middle-the Autobots, most crucially their greatest warrior ULTRA MAGNUS! And HOT ROD meets his maker. Literally. 

It’s pretty amazing how many plots are being developed here. In one place we have Hot Rod leading the Dinobots underground, Soundwave in the shadows, Galvatron’s big return (with some scheming from Starscream) and of course what’s happening on Earth with Optimus and the humans. The only plot that doesn’t appear is the latter, which is fine since it’s the least important. #93 balances the rather big story well, giving time to each plot.

Andrew Wildman continues his Generation One throwback. Despite Starscream betraying Megatron well over a hundred times, it doesn’t get old here since he has Shockwave working with him. Wildman nails the dialogue on Galvatron, fully realizing his cheesy-villain persona from Generation One for the modern reader. Soundwave has a nice little scene, really liked the short dialogue between him and Laserbeak Wingthing. Truthfully, he needs to fight soon, because standing in the shadows will get tedious. Hot Rod’s part of the story is arguably the least exciting, but it’s always fun to see the young leader and his dialogue. The very final page is exciting enough to make me anticipate the next issue greatly, should be one of the best fights yet.

Simon Furman’s art looks really nice and bright throughout. He draws Soundwave with an aura of authority, I also like how well he makes the characters look battle-ravaged with dents all over. The main cover is the most dynamic, showcasing Galvatron getting blasted while a smiling Starscream watches on a screen. Cover B will probably be the fan favorite among older readers, really cool retro piece. The RI is the most unremarkable of the bunch.

Overall, another solid issue of Regeneration One. All of the plots (minus Earth’s) get some good page-time. With two unexpected and really fantastic ending points, the story looks to keep the pace up.

4/5

Daniel’s favorite Transformer is Soundwave and you can follow him on Twitter: @Destroyer_199