Out Wednesday November 26 2008.

If the previews we've been seeing are any indication, this is gonna be a good one.

I like how Roadbuster's shoulders are dragging against the ceiling. Drift sure didn't have much to do this issue.

Colonel Witwicky clearly doesn't know Starscream.

Kup has taken to smoking cigars, or at least chewing on them. Nice touch.

Jazz is an example of badassitude done PROPERLY. Good job.

Love how the strike team got taken out by Ratbat. Pity Spike survived. But hey, maybe this means he'll end up on the bottom of Megatron's foot instead. That should break the Colonel once and for all.

So Prime got taken down by Devastator, or possibly Monstructor.

And Megatron has the Matrix, although can he use it?

Witwicky is a teetotaller? Wuss.

It'd be great if one of those missile tanks was Dropshot in disguise.

Was that Kup in command or Hound? At first I thought Hound, but...

And wasn't Kup just recently brought back from crazy town? Kind of odd that he's worked himself back up in such a high rank so soon...

that was kup.

love seeing ratbat again, although he is back to being a tape now. assume that has to do with soundwave returning. like that they included spike. megatron having the matrix should prove to be very interesting. love how jazz and kup were interacting. jazz sure is a badass. but they did give him an odd facial expression before mirage showed up. do like that kup made reference to the decepticons actually having to work with the combiner technology instead of just having devastator being there all along. finally some reference to the -ation stories

i wonder what is the swarm in the idw-verse. hot rod mentioned it, so i assume it's not something affiliated with the decepticons. also wonder what's attacking them next issue cause it looks like something organic but then there's a severed transformer limb on the ground.

decent issue, and i expect there to be a lot of action next time

Also, where are Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus?

Some questions answered a bit and less of a feeling of clashing with the *-Ation stuff. Which is good. Not a bad issue at all.

Big questions still remaining:

1) Why is Cybertron no longer poisonous and stormy?

2)What exactly is the status of the rest of the Bot army across the galaxy? Assuming that the Cons stunt shown this issue repeated across the galaxy and paved the way for a massive push that hurt the bots bad, there should still be plenty of survivors out there. Litkely disorganized and in hiding, but still It'd be nice to see the fate of Magnus and Maximus, and others from the previous series. I wonder if the Cons have started mass-producing Gestalts yet or if Devestator is still the prototype. If Jetfire lives the Autobots need to totally start cranking out Pretenders and Gestalts of their own to counter. The Pretender part likely wont happen because they're not from the Toon years, but it SHOULD.

Other Thoughts: I bet the Swarm will be related to the Insecticons. Jazz must have some reason to really trust Mirage if he's put him on lone-invisible sentry duty. I wonder what duty the Trion was on that it pulled two of the Wreckers (Springer and Roadbuster) and not the rest of the unit.

who says the rest of the wreckers are even alive and thar springer and roadbuster weren't recruited by kup after the rest of the unit was destroyed?

Issue #4 I found to be a winner.

Issue #5 is....another winner!

In place of unbridled mayhem, we are now getting some fleshed-out character development, which IMO, is where the strength in the Transformers license will always lie.

The character moments involving Jazz in particular these past two issues have been the creme-de-la-creme of Jazz moments in TF history. He is for once living up to his billing as a true badass, someone truly worthy of stripping the mantle of second-in-command from Mr. By-The-Book himself. Taking down Springer, a character renowned for his batlle prowess and unflapabble resolve in battle (which is on full display when he saves his crew), further sends us a message about this Jazz. You just don't mess with him.

The human moments will always lack the excitement the bots bring for me. I just haven't found these characters in any way intriguing, and the whole tough guy army routine has worn thin. I was hoping Spike really was dead, just to make things a bit exciting with the humans, but twas not to be.

As effective as the bot moments have been the last few issues, I really hope to see them take more of center stage.

Though I will say the Ratbat moment was a nice touch. Very..eerily batlike, you could say.

The dialogue, though, I have found to be the biggest strength of this series thus far. I've harped on about Simon's dialogue vs. his storytelling, so I won't belabor that point. I will only say it's been like a breath of fresh air in that department with McCarthy.

Pacing is still a tad slow for my taste in the storytelling department, but in the face of good character moments, I can forgive this. It's what was missing the first three issues, and more the reason why those issues just dragged.

Not too keen on seeing the Matrix though. Here's to hoping it does not play the role of 'major plot device' as it has in times past. Maybe it will just get chucked into a 'solar pool'?

All in all, things are looking up. I get the feeling that the payoff is going to be big come series end, particular when read as a trade.

Artwork is, again, excellent.

An "A-". Pleased with the last two or three issues.

Certainly possible, they are a unit sent into the most dangerous spots, but we have no particular reason to think so. The big Con push that took out most of the Bot army doesn't happen till after these two are, so it wasn't that.

Springer joining up with Kup is at least internally consistent, considering just how loyal he was to Kup (Willing to pretty much send Autobots to their demise, against Prowl's advisement.) If Kup needed him, I bet he'd come.

Similarly, Perceptor, Springer and Kup were all together in his Spotlight issue, Kup was present when Blurr joined up, and Blaster and Perceptor know each other, so with the exception of Hot Rod and Drift, we know that everyone there knows at least one other 'bot and has worked with 'em.



In general, Kup is said to have trained so many of the heavy hitters (Heck, even Bumblebee seems to have learned under him), that I could see him commanding a certain loyalty that might not even have to do with his rank. I bet he probably trained Hot Rod, too.

I mean, hey, Jazz says it himself: rank can be flexible in the Autobots.

Dang, I am VERY pleased with Jazz's portrayal. Very cool, competent and deadly. The fact that he was able to move fast enough to take out Blurr has added weight thanks to Blurr having been established in his own issue first as being super-fast. A side of himself we hadn't really gotten to see before this series (And really, the last time he went toe to toe with someone in bot mode, it was Sixshot...who can whump pretty much anyone. If anything, the fact that Sixshot disarmed him makes the former seem even harder, now, in light of how skilled Jazz is. So hardly a fair evaluation of Jazz's skill as a fighter.)

I'm actually really curious to see what Megs wants to do with the Matrix. Every time a Con or bad dude in general's gotten it, it's had some interesting effects (Turning Starscream good, Matrix being corrupted by evil). I'm interested as to exactly what it could DO to the Autobots. One thing, I'm pretty sure Shane isn't going to bring in Unicron.

Wow, is there any doubt that McCarthy's writing SL: Jazz now? I do like the effort to make Jazz more important. Furman had him as just "one of those guys" and it's nice to see what exactly "Special Operations Agent" entails. And I think its neat that Prowl and Jazz seem to be comfortable with this new command arrangement (as comfortable as they can be in this situation). Prowl works best as a second usually, and since they get a long it is a bonus. Imagine if Grimlock was in charge...then again, everyone would probably be dead at his point. Still, the human situation is a bit more groan-worthy now with Spike's addition. And after all that damn panel-time wasted on whatsisface, Maybe-dead-but-maybe-not-but-who-really-gives-a-damn-now Randy or whatever. And Colonel Sparkplug's plan was pretty sad. "Beat the head bastard and I'm sure none of the other bastards'll step in".

Improvement, but not by enough. With the wrap-up of the first "arc" next issue, I really haven't seen enough to keep me reading the second six issues.

The Prowl/Jazz power sharing also reminds me of how Prowl and Hot Rod were the same rank, and both team leaders, but could serve in the same unit. Wonder if it's a similar arrangement here in terms of rank. (Roddy simply never stepped in as a temp leader in the -ations. 'Course, Roddy seems to work better as a solo agent; he kinda bolluxed things up momentarily when he beamed down without warning in Brasnya and was so gung-ho and "Hoo-HAH!". Blasted youth element. ) Jazz seems to have not been inclined to take over in the Tactical Response Team, and let Prowl largely run the show, although who knows, we didn't see all of the Autobots' day to day processes.

Or heck, the way Prime respected Prowl's authority in Devastation over his team, but stepped in when he felt it necessary, despite Prime outranking him, comes to mind, although as a slightly different setup.

This was the first issue that I really felt good about.

Yes, the art has been nice all along but it took the story a while to do anything for me.

Issues 1,2, and 3 took far too long to focus on the Cons conquering one city (felt like it should have been a few pages to a single issue tops) and a bunch of boring stock-action-movie humans blithering about (as opposed to Furman's humans that had unique personalities, these folks were all just bland and DULL). Just far too little, not interesting enough, story matterial for this many issues.

Issue 4 was better. By bringing the Autobots back in at last it was finally a full and satisfying TF story for me. That part clicked as we had more TFs getting more characterization and page time. Sadly there were just SO many story points (foreground and background) where there were huge, annoying disconnects to the IDW Universe as we've known it previous to this book that it spoiled for me what otherwise would have been a cool read. Turned a potential B+ into a C-.

Here, with #5, is at last an issue that has all the good points of #4 AND connects some of the dots back to the *-Ation minis. Still a few big question marks, but I at least felt an effort was being made at last to link things up and that, combined with the good art and decent writing, at last produced a cool, wining issue in my book.

Now if only #6 can keep it up I'll be happy.

Ugh. There's a lot to like in this issue, but I really would be enjoying it more if it WAS a straight-up reboot, and not trying to fit into continuity. For every little piece that makes it "fit" with Furman's previous stuff, there are five new things that don't.

How is Kup suddenly back from his coma? (And why does no one comment on it?) Why are Springer and Roadbuster with him minus the rest of the Wreckers? How did Hot Rod hook up with him? Why are Blaster and Perceptor with him, but none of the other Autobots we've seen on the base (esp. Silverbolt) there? And it's not just that they're all back and together, but actually on their own ship flying around the galaxy. There's a throwaway line given to Cybertron being "offlimits", yet all the Autobots have no problem being on Cybertron? And doesn't it seem just a bit too convenient that Kup's crew is basically the Movie characters, minus Ultra Magnus and Arcee, plus Drift and Roadbuster?

And... the Matrix. I can't recall it featuring in any of the previous IDW stories, but maybe it's there. (Did Nova have it? But its not as if Prime took it from him in Revelations...) Just seems like more cartoon stuff shoe-horned in here.

Still, some good things, like Kup's badassery and especially Jazz. I definitely like the idea of him being special ops, and using his secret rank/training to take command in a crisis situation if Prime is out of commission. Basically a "plant" in Prowl's unit by Autobot command. Also possible that Ironhide had an idea but Prowl didn't, based on Prowl/Jazz's conversation last issue ("why does he respect you but not me?"). I wonder if Mirage is also Special Ops, explaining why Jazz trusts him so implicitly.

But yeah, the fact that this is still heavily at odds with previous continuity is still really driving me nuts. This story is crying out for a miniseries to fill in the gaps.

Where did Kup get that shiny new body? Previous fiction portrayed him as being unwilling to go through upgrades.

Kup had already had two bodies before this issue.

First: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:SpotlightBlas...erBroadside.jpg

Second: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:SpotlightKup_killingspree.jpg

The one in AHM doesn't really seem so much like a new body, actually, so much as there's just a huge stylistic difference between Guido and Roche. Guido even replicates the unique cheek details Roche gave his Kup. I'm pretty sure this is just how Guido draws Roche's Kup.

Sorry, but Guido's doesn't look a thing like Nick's.
Major kudos to Casey Coller for actually sticking to that design when he drew Spotlight Blurr, bummer that Emiliano couldn't follow it, but for one panel where most of him is obscured by his gun and knee...

Guido's, however, is a giant mixture of toy and cartoon designs.... on steroids.

His "new" design really isn't any more on steroids than the original cartoon design. Roadbuster is on steroids. Kup has normal Transformer proportions.

New design or not, considering the state that Kup was in before, don't you think some new touches would be warranted? Because that just makes sense. His "stubbornness to upgrade" probably doesn't mean jack to the technicians and physicians who are trying to get him working again.

Really, can't we expend our energy on the REAL issues here, and not pore through every possible conceived contradiction in these stories just because we all totally hate Shane McCarthy? It's starting to get to the point where I don't care what the hell he's written, people are just acting like petty jerks on a crusade, and I'll choose meh writing over siding with that kind of vengeful Asperger's any day.

So, what, whenever someone doesn't like something but you have no problem with it, you're gonna blame em of having Asperger's?

I never said I hated the new body, I just asked where he got it. If it was explained.
Then you said it was the same body, just with Guido's art style... so I posted that to show that it isn't.

Eh, I think it's close enough. It's got the details on the head, and the wheels in the legs, and all that. Guido's just getting away from Roche's extremely thin steampunky look and giving him normal proportions.

And no, Detour, none of the new bodies are explained. As I said, its just basically left up to Guido to draw 'em how he likes, and Shane's said he feels that Transformers can change their general look whenever they feel like it so he's probably not going to expend energy on explaining it in-storyline.

EDIT: See lonegamer's post, heh.

Actually, Hasbro requested Guido to go with certain designs. Not sure on Kup, but I think that they would've given him a new one after they fully treated him (from the looks of it, off panel). From his post at the IDW board:

tbh im hugging loveing this series just as much as i loveed Simons stuff, nice milatary structure, characterisation, and TBH for about 6 month i had been toying with the idea of pitching a Spotlight Jazz story, but Shane has gone and nailed exactly the type of Jazz i wanted to see.

also dont care if there is a difference between Guido And Nick, both look ace,
you want an answer for the new designs here you go

Bumbleebee
"Hey guys you look way differnt now"

Other bots
"Classics Designs are in Vogue baby"

Kup
"I have the mind of a 60,000 year old but damn if it aint the body of 20 year old"

also you wanna know where the Matrix was

Jazz
"He has the matrix now"

Kup
"Where he find it"

Jazz
"Walmart"

Could they be on the Cybertron that was previously Gorlam Prime?

At the time, I was battling your weird vendettas both on here and on the Wiki, where at the latter you were absolutely determined to put more petty negative things on Dan Didio's page because I guess you just read Batman RIP, despite repeated edits by others to remove them. Look, we get it. You hate Dan Didio. Congratulations!

Given that Kup was said to be recovering in one of the Spotlights, I just assumed that he'd been given a new body for good measure. Makes perfect sense, given the shocking state of his old one.

New/different bodies are par for the course in Transformers. Try to find an explanation for it and your head will explode.


Personally I'm enjoying the series. Sure it started out slow but it's becoming quite a fun read, I just hope it can STAY fun and not become boring again.

Oh yeah, EJ Su posted a memorial on his DA page.



Alas, Sony Mylo Ratbat. We hardly knew ye.

I just have one nitpick with it I guess.

WHY IS ROADBUSTER SO HUGE NOW?

Ahem. Ok better now.

Yeah, that redesign was awesome. I do not welcome the new one.

I thought he alt mode was a cd player the first (only?) time we saw ratbat.

I very, very much like this Jazz. And the what Cliffjumper said about how "this never gets old" makes me wonder about how many times Jazz and Kup have come across each other in the past.

I like the series a lot, I don't really care about all of the nitpicks and the tie-ins that most are so concerned with. It makes for a good read this way. Why does Kup have a new body? Because he would have looked RIDICULOUS in the body from his spotlight.

I liked the government photo of Megatron having the tiny text "Codename: MEGAMAN" on it.

eh, well he is a super fighting robot.

I was confused about that for all of the -Ation series, at least since Nova reappeared.


That just raises the question (for me at least) of what happened to the last inhabitants.


Yeah, I wanted a Real Gear Ratbat so bad with that mode.


I thought so too, I guess he became a tape because they got Soundwave back, so they can work together/SW can control him better.

I think this one was my favorite so far, Jazz is just so awesome, and useing Mirage for sentry duty makes so much sense, I was wondering who the big guy was man Roadbuster's big, his face reminds me of Tankor.

And is it too hard to assume after his spotlight, Kup recovered and maybe became more open to getting upgrades? I wonder how old he is.

That doesn't have to be the only solution. We don't ever hear that Kup never gets upgrades. Just that he's stubborn about it, and so he's incompatible with most modern technology. It's easy to assume that if Kup looks different now than he did before, it's that they found some old parts that would work with him. That's way more likely than finding the exact same old parts he had before.

I think they built him a brand new body and transferred his spark to that robo-cigar he *never takes out of his mouth!*

I want to say, for posterity, that I love the robo-cigar. So much. It was worth bringing Kup back for all on its own.

That's right, I was thinking he never upgraded, I forgot what they said exactly.


And the cigar really does add something to Kup.

More likely Kup has never really met Jazz anything more than casually, but Cliffjumper's seen people challenge Jazz before and had their asses kicked.

I've asked that before, to no avail.



Just don't call him the Blue Bomber.

...because he's not blue.

Anyway, it's clear to me that perhaps Shane and Simon should pair-up. Simon could handle some of the plotting, pacing, and the humans , while Shane does characterization and finer points of the TFs. Best of both worlds, everybody wins.

I'd like to think more answers are coming, but it would be nice if they had some sort of Q&A where they answer the stuff they don't plan to tackle within the pages of the book itself.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

if i recal in IDW his allways been that big, he towered over springer and prime, and was up like mid waist height on Broadside... who i miss rather him then blur

He was never that wide or bulky though. Now he takes up the space of about four bots.

But my problem with that is I've always seen RB as super-soldier type build, not a hulk type, but thats just my personal feelings.

I liked this issue over all.

Just give him an AI sidekick and we're all set!

I agree there. He's always been more of a Roadblock than an Incredible Hulk. Large and able to handle some heavy ordnance, but not a behemoth.

Which is why I like the Universe toy. Packed to the teeth with weapons, bulky, but not proportionned like Crossovers Hulk.

I really see him as more of a corpse.

*squints at MrBlud*

...Simon? Is that you?

Has anyone else noticed Universe Dropshot's "cameo" as one of the missile tanks in Colonel Witwicky's park base?
He's there, right down to the DC02077 marking on it.

Wait... does the US military actually use Merkava tanks?