The battle with the Decimators is heating up – and with the aid of the Centurions, the Princesses are taking it to them!

ROBOTS VS. PRINCESSES #3

Writer: Todd Matthy
Artist: Nicolas Chapuis
Letterer: Sean Rinehart
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 14, 2018

Previously in Robots. Vs. Princesses: The land of Harmonia (a fairy-tale land, where the princesses live) was attacked by the Decimators (an army of robots). The Princesses are deep in the forest, along with Wheeler, a robot befriended by Zara. And then they are attacked by Decimators.

CUTE, WITH A LOT GOING ON

I have not been reading this from the start, but I’ve wanted to give it a try. Robots Vs. Princesses #3 is full of action and actually gets into the history a little bit. Even though it was a little confusing at first, I was eventually able to figure out who everyone was.  The book opens with robots attacking. There is a glowing green symbol, and then there are lion robots, and the Princesses decide they need to help them. After another read, the Princesses are being attacked by Decimators drones, who have taken Wheeler down, and the lion robots are helping them. The Princesses help in turn by singing a magical song, which gets the creatures of the forest into the fray. Fortunately, this is birds, who can help with the drones, and lions. Teamwork wins the day.

Zara asks one of the Centurions (the good robots, now shaped like lions) if they can help Wheeler, which they can. Wheeler has been changed into a dragon shape, and they don’t know how that happened. Ultimus and Gunnar introduce themselves as Centurions, and they know about the Decimators, and are happy to team up. Then they come upon another glowing green symbol and Ultimus changes back into his humanoid robot form.

Then we cut to the land of the Decimators. Among the cages of prisoners are a king and queen. The Decimators have been changed (perhaps into dragon/dinosaur like evil robots?) and they accuse the humans of doing it. The king and queen have no idea what they’re talking about, and polygraph shows they’re telling the truth. Still, even though they have no idea what humans are, Tyrannis thinks they seem familiar.

Anyway, back in the forest, they find a rock with a symbol carved in it, which triggers a  projection of the history. Once upon a time, the five kingdoms of Harmonia were being terrorized by giants and trolls. A guy named Warlorn built the robots to protect them, and all should have been peaceful. But the kingdoms decided to go to war instead, and built more robots for the purpose. Then Tyrannis was born, and Warlorn had to create Ultimus and the Centurions to fight him. The battle was won, but the queen died. The people demanded the robots be destroyed. Instead. Warlorn wiped everyone’s memories and raised the Forbidden Woods to separate humans from robots forever, and he was banished.

There’s a nice scene between Wheeler and Zara, then Zara and her friends, concerning friendship, but then, as if there wasn’t already enough going on, they find some Mecha suits in the forest. (One for each Princess.) There is momentary confusion when they come back to the Centurions looking like more different robots, but this is soon cleared up. They figure these were early versions of the robots – designed to be piloted by people. This will allow them to go into battle to. There are a couple pages of argument as Ultimus tries to dissuade them, to no avail. They end charging into battle.

ALL THAT SHAPE-SHIFTING

There is nothing wrong with the art of Robots Vs. Princesses #3. In fact, the Princesses are all very cute, and the Robots are pretty cool looking. In retrospect,  the shape-shifting maintains the Centurions’ color schemes, so once I figured out that things were changing shapes, I could keep track of who was who.

But this issue really focuses on Robots. We see Decimators and Tyrannis. We see Centurions. We see robots from history, and we see the mechas that the Princesses pilot. I kind of dig this. To be fair, the whole idea of bringing princesses and robots into conflict is cool. But I like the designs of the robots. I also appreciate the use of color to help keep things separate. Each Princess has her own color as well, and when they find the mechas, those are also color coded.

BOTTOM LINE: AN ENGAGING STORY

As one might expect with an all-ages book, Robots Vs. Princesses #3 focuses a lot on friendship. I like that Zara has made friends with Wheeler, and now with the Centurions here, there is hope for having a conclusion where robots and people can be friends again. This is a nice way to speak to readers about getting along despite differences without being heavy-handed. And, like peanut butter and chocolate, robots and princesses go together surprisingly well.