Incredible Change-Bots is a series of graphic novels written and illustrated by the American comic book artist Jeffrey Brown and published by Top Shelf Productions.
[5] This compiled material produced for the fan club, the online strips, the Scott Eder Gallery Show and numerous other sources, and included additional commentary and notes from Brown.
The latter tamper with senate elections and take control of the planet, and the resulting heavily armed peaceful protest mounted by the Awesomebots soon escalates into civil war.
The long conflict leaves Electrocybercircuitron drained, so both factions work together to build a ship and set off into space to find a new source of energy.
Like all alien spacecraft it lands in a remote North American desert, and the Fantasticons leave the ship to set up a base called the Fantasticave in a nearby mountain.
However, their plans are overheard by Fantasticon spy Microwave and after setting up the Converter in the South American jungle the Awesomebots are ambushed - with Arsonal getting shot again.
Big Rig rejoins the Awesomebots and knocks Shootertron off the dam, the Fantasticon refusing to be rescued due to belief his opposite number will use him to shoot himself.
He rediscovers his powerful gun when protecting Stanley from Tracktor, which Shootertron has mistaken for a sinister presence due to pareidolia; runs a successful campaign of terror in order to be elected Class president; and begins dreaming of the war between the Awesomebots and Fantasticons.
Big Rig proposes they formalise their alliance with a triumvirate of leaders - himself, Eject and Rusty - while medic Ivy is gradually restoring destroyed Change-Bots to life.
Desiring revenge, Shootertron decides to work with Deeyer to destroy the Change-Bots, and leads a planning session to map the battlefield using pirate-themed interlocking bricks.
Shootertron proposes arbitration and the Awesomebots meet with the Fantasticons, taking Jimmy Junior and Monkeywrench along after the former points out to Big Rig they can be used as human shields.
Both sides throw new creations into the fight - the tiny annoying Fantastinsectors, the giant Awesomesauruses and the huge Macrowave- but the key tussle is once again between Big Rig and Shootertron.
After discussing the idea of a theme tune for Incredible Change-Bots with Brown in an interview for his blog,[19] Pirooz Kalayeh wrote music to the lyrics.
[20] With Brown's blessing,[5] animator Oren Mashkovski created a "trailer" for the comics, which was uploaded to the official Top Shelf Productions YouTube Channel.
[5] In 2008 Devil's Due Publishing reached a deal to produce 6-inch vinyl figures based on Incredible Change-Bots characters, beginning with Balls and Microwave (with Soupy and Popper).
[5] In 2016 Brown revisited the Change-Bots with a trading card set featuring all-new art, aiming to raise funds through crowdfunding website Kickstarter[24] Due to the association with Devil's Due the characters of Balls and Microwave briefly appeared in Hack/Slash #18 in a character's nightmare, and a poster for the first graphic novel is glimpsed in the film version of Kick-Ass.
Doug Glassman gave the first book a positive review for Collected Editions, but noted the humour might be lost on those not familiar with the conventions of the Transformers cartoon.
[28] James Hunt of Comic Book Resources praised Incredible Change-Bots Two, noting that it "builds on the original without being a complete retread",[29] while Michael May positively compared it to the Transformers film series,[30] a sentiment that was shared by McMonigal in Panel Patter's review.
[31] Sean Edgar scored the book at 8.2 out of 10 for Paste, noting "Brown's art resembles the margins of a ridiculously talented high-schooler's geometry notebook, but this informal, goofy take perfectly complements a story that revels in incompetent characters and sly non sequiturs.
"[33] On his personal blog, The Comics Journal critic Rob Clough noted that the book had "either a comedic bit, a fight or an explosion on every page.