The Falling continues as sinister forces raise alarm throughout the Earth/Cybertron alliance. The focus in issue #16 is on Soundwave. The Decepticon who only wanted to find a noble cause. Unfortunately, the past caught up with him and it would seem a difficult choice is looming.
Additional spotlight is on treachery and the consequences of naïve thinking.
Optimus Prime continues on his quest to find some meaning in being named a “Prime” all the while encountering another Prime from ages ago.
It would seem, Hasbro and IDW continue to evolve the history of the Thirteen Primes in their own fashion. I have noticed with some characters, the addition of a title has a story. In the Transformers lore, the title of Prime was bestowed upon the Autobot leader. Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, etc…. Hasbro, in the Animated series a few years ago, gave us the title of “Magnus” and IDW where “Ultra Magnus” has been a title for other Autobots to don some heavily beefed up armor.
The issue, while telling a good story, suffers from too many shifts in the action, and while Kei Zama’s artwork evokes some classic Marvel G1 feel, it got somewhat dark. Not dark as in death and destruction, which does happen towards the end anyway, but by dark, I mean as though someone turned the lights down. Not the first time it happens, but it’s starting to happen as frequently as it had when Zama took over artwork during the earlier issues.
Let’s see what happens in the next part of The Falling.
Optimus Prime #16 earns a 7 out of 10.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://thepopbreak.com/2018/03/14/review-optimus-prime-16/&media=https://thepopbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Optimus-Prime-16.jpg&description=Optimus Prime #16 takes us to the dark side of "The Falling" saga.){kind=link}