If I had a shanix for the amount of times I saw a group of life destroying mechanoids called "reapers" who had incomprehensibly stupid motives, I'd have 2 shanix. Which isn't much, but its weird that it happened twice.
As a huge Transformers and Paleontology fan, I absolutely love the look for the dinobots in Spotlight: Shockwave. The more realistic and up to date look with the fleshy appearance looks so cool, and appealing to me, and I love the ongoing narrative in the franchise of Shockwave Vs The Dinobots
You know, that's a good point. I mentioned an appreciation for the reinvention of their designs in terms of the "IDW style," but I neglected to to talk about that angle. I think it makes complete sense to update the Dinobots' alt forms to be more accurate to reality and I can see why people would be happy with the change. I definitely appreciated the synthetic skin angle - I might've been happier with the overall designs if they had kept that feature intact, but I understand why they didn't.
@@Moonbase3 for sure! And I love their more “traditional” robotic Dino modes the dinobots get in future IDW work, of course Grimlock but i think it’s far and away Slug’s best design. But yeah, as a huge dinosaur buff, I loved seeing the effort made to make them more accurate (to our knowledge at the time of course) even though I would enjoy seeing another crack at it, with a even more accurate depiction
@@coreymcgivney5897 There's definitely a certain element of fun in seeing different renditions of the Dinobots over time to go along with how our understanding and knowledge of them evolves!
Spotlight Ultra Magnus was by far my favourite of this bunch, the worldbuilding on display as the duly appointed enforcer of the Tyrest Accord travels to different worlds was amazing. I will say that Spotlight Nightbeat also did that pretty well, but it could never really stand on its own because it was setup for the Ark-1 storyline
Yeah, the Ultra Magnus issue is pretty great! Not gonna lie, I would have loved a "villain of the week" style miniseries just following Magnus around various planets as he brings in targets.
Honestly, I think an interesting idea for a Beast wars series would to have a episode where shockwave goes to the planet and studies and attempts to capture the maximals and predacons.
54:09 It's fits more of the Aligned continuity aesthetic (Alex Milne said so for Trailbreaker on his DeviantArt post). Especially since Studio Series has a Gamer Edition subline that features the WFC/FOC characters (which MTMTE & R.I.D. pre-Dark Cybertron utilizes, either lifted from or drawn in its style) and Legacy does something similar for the Prime characters.
And around the time Cybertron becomes inhabitable in univrse, Hasbro wanted IDW to reboot the comics to be aligned continuity. So wouldn’t be surprised if Hasbro had mandate with having the characters having similar design aesthetic for ‘brand unity’ Hasbro pulled a similar stunt with Arcee where IDW wanted to change her color from pink, only for Hasbro to refuse. Despite the fact Arcee being pink was the same reason Hasbro hadn’t did a G1 Arcee figure.
Another great video man keep up the work! I always thought these spotlight issues were a great way to expand the universe when I first read through IDW, but I feel like a lot of them get overlooked in the long run even they set up so many things down the road
Thanks! Much appreciated! And I agree, the Spotlights were a really fun (and efficient) way to expand the IDW universe and plant seeds for future stories. I still think pretty highly of the series, particularly the early ones - they're engaging in a way that really made the continuity stronger and richer.
Thanks! Much appreciated! And I agree, the Spotlights were a really fun (and efficient) way to expand the IDW universe and plant seeds for future stories. I still think pretty highly of the series, particularly the early ones - they're engaging in a way that really made the continuity stronger and richer.
Great video!! I loved seeing you cover spotlight hot rod since it was my introduction to IDW1. I remember not understanding anything that happened in that spotlight until spotlight doubledealer.
this collection of Spotlights was the first bit of idw i had picked up and read. got the TPB at a barnes and noble to read during a family road trip. and Shockwave's book especially got me hooked. since then, the 2005-2016 idw run has been my absolute favorite piece of transformers media. and my life has less joy in it now that it's gone.
Masterful work as always! Definitely the right call for format/compilation. I have a lot of thoughts on these issues, but since I wrote a full novel of a comment on the last vid I’ll try to keep this one more to the point. First the choices for spotlights was fantastic. All great characters, with a decent balance between the iconic fan favorites and the more obscure/underrated. Shockwave - Nick Roche always delivers. Love the Beast Wars-esque details for the D[y]nobots. Shockwave’s characterization is also excellent, very good introduction for new fans to this classic rivalry. Nightbeat - Every time I read this my opinion flips. I think it’s the art, a bit scratchy for my tastes. As of now I dig it. Great Lovecraftian tone, and really hammers home the mystery/detective elements essential to the character. Hot Rod - Once again the art (as well as the colors) really slap here. I liked the story, it serves as a good intro to Hot Rod, but I definitely think it’s the weakest of the Spotlights so far. Love the use of lesser known ‘cons and Doubledealer. Gutcruncher is especially cool to see, because I had (and I think still do in a box somewhere) the legends class modern version (called Sparkcrusher I think) from the Revenge of the Fallen toyline. Always had a soft spot for that character. Sixshot - Sixer is my all time favorite Deception, second only to Wheeljack in overall rankings. Unlike Wheeljack though, who I like because of his character first and for most, my affinity for Sixshot is for entirely superficial reasons. He just looks so cool, and the six change gimmick is so awesome. Unfortunately I agree with your assessment, it’s probably the weakest here. Ultra Magnus - Probably my favorite of the bunch. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Super Cop characterization, but I think it works here moreso than MtMtE at times. The characterization of Scorponok on the other hand was one of my biggest inspirations when putting together my TF RPG campaign, probably my favorite version of the character. The art is once again great, the transformers look really powerful in this issue. Almost certainly not intentional on the behalf of the recent toy designers, but Magnus’s Siege figure bears a striking resemblance to his design in this comic, a really good and powerful look. Overall a really strong start to the spotlights. There’s some variation of quality, but when they hit they hit. Spotlight: Megatron is still my favorite Megatron story of all time, absolutely nails my ideal characterization for him. Can’t wait for the next video!
You know, I never put that together with the Siege toy until your post, but it does seem kind of similar! And that's awesome about you running an RPG campaign with Scorponok - I would have liked to have seen that! I also like Sixshot quite a bit, and I think a big part of why I like him so much is how he's handled in Devastation. He was a force of nature in that series, and it left me wanting more. Which, unfortunately, we didn't really get. He was certainly underutilized, especially considering all the attention he was given early on.
9:53/9:55 I think this stems from their bios of: 9:57 Being a chemist/alchemist. 9:58 Being a metallurgist, which are material scientists who specialize in metals such as steel, aluminum, iron, and copper. This might be also the reason why in issue 13 of MTMTE he says, "It's Thunderwing bad".
Finally glad to see you cover this. The IDW Spotlight issues are what got me into Transformers comics so it's nice to hear you talk about them. I think my favorite of this bunch is Hot Rod but that might be my bias talking because Hot Rod is my favorite Transformer of all time. I just adore the way Furman writes him and his characterization in this spotlight and the rest of Furman's run has become the go-to Hot Rod personality for me in my own personal projects and the Roleplays I'm in. Just kinda makes it a shame that if I'm being honest I don't think anyone in the IDW universe really "got" Hot Rod after Furman's stuff. As much as I love James Roberts I really hated how he wrote Rodimus as an egotist desperate to prove he's cool instead of the daredevil who never gives up and never stops trying that Furman wrote. To me, THAT will always be Hot Rod.
Thanks for the comment! I'm glad that it seems like there are folks out there who like these issues as much as I do - I really wasn't sure what the consensus was. Also happy to see there are Hot Rod fans out there - I've always liked the character and thought he sometimes got a bad rap after TFTM. While I don't hate what Roberts did with the character, I do know what you mean about some of the shifts with his character. If I'm remembering correctly, I thought there were some moments in Roberts' run where some of that old characterization came through, but overall I agree that Roberts changed things up with him. I ultimately prefer Furman's version, but I can also appreciate what Roberts was doing as well.
4:49 I metioned this in the Stormbringer arc in that these designs are lifted rather than adapted, unlike with Optimus. And they would retain these designs in the Autocracy trilogy.
Part of me wishes they gave them the Orion/Optimus treatment of modifying them, but they were really good designs and I was happy to see them again. Even happier still to see them in the Autocracy trilogy!
Always great to see you upload another video. I’m so happy to have finally found a channel that analyzes the idw comics. I don’t think they’re talked about enough on RU-vid.
Thank you! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying them. I like making them and I'm super grateful people seem to like watching them. I definitely agree that there's a lot to say about the IDW continuity and there should be more channels talking about it.
15:04/15:10 Funnily enough the same year that 4/5 spotlights came out was when Galoob was sold to Hasbro. So now not only have they obtained a rival company, but now they made vehicles & playsets off of Transformers.
on the reapers the sense i got was is theyre ALL different species version of what an "ultimate weapon" would be. implying that any sufficiently advanced world in conflict would eventually develop its own version of a "sixshot", and sixshot is just cybertrons. they all seem to have gone through the emotions sixshot did at the start of the story and once they broke away from their own worlds found each other, and upon realizing that the only reason they exist is to destroy they turned that into trying to end war by destorying the wars aims i.e strategic worlds. destroy the planet, no one gets anything anymore , so war for it ends. (which is basically megatrons intentions with phase sixers too- destroy as oppose to lose to the autobots) furman COULD been setting up such a fate for earth since ore 13 made us ground central. as an aside i DO love how they basically set him up as a weapon x/ captain america supersoldier type of thing which paid off BIG time in devestation.
51:16 Really makes me wonder why he didn't do a variant cover for Spotlight: Shockwave homaging this illustration (or at the very least making a reference to it)?
Spoilers for post-Spotlight Vol. 1 stories Sixshot is definitely one of the most wasted IDW characters imo. He had an interesting set-up that I wish had lead into a Headmasters-esque story of Sixshots defection, and there was still a chance for an author to do that after being brought back... and then he just appears in spotlight metroplex to die. I have similar feelings on Blitzwing, not because he did anything interesting, but because of the behind the scenes info we got from James Roberts, where we learned Blitzwing was initially planned to be in MTMTE before Cyclonus, but was picked by Barber for RID, because while I adore Cyclonus in MTMTE, it would've been interesting to see a follow up on the idea of Blitzwing abandoning the decepticons and how Roberts would've written the character, especially after the complete disappontment due to Blitzwings complete disappearence post five faces of darkness (I know he was subbed with Octane). I would've loved to see not only how he fleshed out Blitzwing as a character, but the character dynamics that would've come about, since unlike Cyclonus, who they really only knew for a brief period of time, their history with Blitzwing goes way further back. I know we got the scavengers, but the fact that MTMTE only had one post war decepticon aboard the ship starting at season 2 has always been something I find kind of disappointing about the series, because I feel like it didn't fully take advantage of the post war setting. Part of me wonders if some of Megatrons story arc was recycled from James Roberts unused concepts for Blitzwing's character arc. That feeling of disappointment though also carries over into RID, because while I enjoy Barbers work on IDW, learning about the characters he picked out for RID that Roberts was also interested in, only for those characters not to amount to much in RID / "The Transformers" imo (Blitzwing & Wheeljack), stings a bit. I do also feel the same way about some of the characters in MTMTE though, particularly the background characters like Sunstreaker, Hoist, and Hound, but that doesn't say really say much about the quality of the stories as much as it does which characters I enjoy and wish had more to do in my favorite continuity or favorite series from said continuity.
Excellent comment! Thanks! I knew that Roberts was originally considering Powerglide for Tailgate's part, but I didn't know that about Blitzwing. Man, that would have been awesome! If Roberts intended him to have Cyclonus' role in the story, then Blitzwing would have been fairly prominent. Like you, I would have liked to have seen that. I'm having a hard time even remembering off the top of my head what Barber did with him in RiD/Transformers, so that is definitely a bummer.
@@Moonbase3 After posting my comment, I decided to look further into it, and now I'm somewhat unsure about the validity of my statement. I know for a fact that Blitzwing was someone Roberts wanted in the cast, but looking back at the information I can find and the information I was told, I think it may've been speculatory on the forum posters end, and an assumption based on Cyclonus' role in the story. The only thing I can find for sure is that Roberts did want to use Blitzwing as a main cast member, but wasn't able to, presumably because he was one of the compromises he made with Barber. Assuming its purely speculatory though, as I would have to find the forum post later (which did also mention Powerglide being replaced with Tailgate) It is an educated guess without the word of the author, as going down that route of thinking, Cyclonus' betrayl of Galvatron in Chaos, a story written with both Phase 2 series in mind as it serves as the introduction for characters like Chromedome, Mainframe, Swerve (with a patch on his shoulder as a set up for a future story), among other MTMTE background cast members (like Rad and Jackpot), and the reintroduction of Brainstorm after his brief appearance in All Hail Megatron, features a scene of Cyclonus betraying Galvatron in the name of protecting cybertron that is somewhat reminiscent of Blitzwings betrayl in tFFoD, and Cyclonus' placement on the Lost Light as the hated outsider whose severed his connections, shunned for being an autobot killer, and holding a more nuanced take on the great war than his crewmates could've easily been filled by a Decepticon. Since we also know that Roberts and Barber had 3 characters they could call dibs on and that they both had to make compromises, it's reasonable to assume Blitzwing was one of them who was subbed with another character, much like how Brainstorm filled in for a role that would've gone to Wheeljack, and Prowl instead just had an indirect role in the series with his actions causing long lasting consequences. Another supporting factor, imo, is the fact that because Roberts had a habit of building off the original character bios and original Transformers media, and putting new spins on them (Trailcutter being a drinker due to his Bios mention of his excessive energy consumption, Skids outlier ability to instantly learn new skillsets due to his massive memory capacity, Chromedome being a neuroscientist due to being a computer programmer [And his tendency to form deep connections with partners possibly being inspired by the concept of the Headmasters binary bonding process], Magnus once again being in an advisor role to Rodimus as in G1, etc.), I find it plausible that the interactions between Rodimus and Cyclonus could've been based off of the respect Blitzwing seemed to have for Rodimus and his offer for Blitzwing to join the Autobots; Of course the exact details don't line up since aspects of Cyclonus' story wouldn't fit with Blitzwings established history in the continuity, but the story being retooled to fit the new character wouldn't be the first time Roberts would've done this, since he used the point one percenter spark and pacifism arc in Dying of the Light for Megatron instead of Quickswitch (poor Quickswitch, thats two six changers robbed of a potentially interesting story in IDW), and Brainstorm's status as an infamous crackpot inventor whose constantly doing daring and strange projects (like color coded lasers) which somewhat resembles G1 wheeljack more than it does Brainstorm.
@@TheAnimationStationTAS This was a great read and I think you make a lot of good points. It's definitely fascinating to go down the rabbit hole of "what might have been," with certain things. For example, I also haven't come across the info about Quickswitch yet in my research of that time period, so that was new to me as well and really gets my mind spinning about that arc in general. I feel like there's so much about ongoing comics that is reactive and adaptive - and sometimes that new result pays off, but sometimes you can't help but wonder how things might have been if the author had been able to go ahead with their original plan.
I will always enjoy the Shockwave issue as it's the foundational rock of the IDW universe's ORE-13 plot line and a good showing Grimlock's team of Dynobots. Ultra Magnus' issues works for me on account of me being a Combaticon fan and Swindle being further built up at the all around arms dealer he wold shape up to be in the franchise as a whole. I enjoy Sixshot the same way I enjoy Evil Ernie, mass devastation killers rising hell every now and then is enjoyable. Nightbeat is a sold mystery for transformers painting the Ark 1, Dead Universe and the other factors at play in Simon Furman's growing Transforms story
In terms of first on-panel appearance, I think it's these guys. If I remember correctly, we don't even get a hint of Nova until Escalation #6, which was a few months after Spotlight Hot Rod. Technically the first Ark is revealed in Nightbeat's issue, so you could maybe make a case there, but its crew remains a mystery until later on.
28:06/29:05 I also kinda thought of him as being Overlord's second-in-command (since they were Masterforce characters), albeit a somewhat untrustworthy one.
That's a tough one. I don't know if I could narrow it down to just one across all the Spotlights they released. Some highlights for me are Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod, Shockwave, Soundwave, Optimus Prime, Sideswipe (for the art alone), Trailcutter...I feel like I could go on and on. Is there one that's your absolute favorite?
My favorite of these spotlights is a tied between Hot Rod and Shockwave. Shockwave is a nice reinventing of the Marvel comic, origin of the Dinobots. Can’t really think of why they replace the I with a Y. Besides thinking it be ‘cool’ Hot Rod is a nice little heist story that shows off his personality off well. Roberts does great job building off this for his run for MTMTE/Lost Light. Nightbeat strangely I always seem to think about, whenever I have to write a mystery hook, I seem to come back to this comic book. Guest the hook of someone being promised an ancient artifact, only to find the seller murdered really stuck with me. Magnus is ok, the comic doesn’t have anything that stands out. Besides how it tease what going to happen in the main book. Sixshot is pretty boring and feels like it only exist to tease future plots. Though let’s be real Spotlight Shockwave is singularity the most important comic issue because every event gets tied to this one shot.
Nice breakdown of all the issues! I think you're definitely right about Spotlight Shockwave. I imagine that Furman used a 'y' instead of an 'i' as a clever way of keeping the same name for the team without having to explain why they don't have 'dino' alt modes. And I think it is pretty clever - According to the Internet, 'dyn' is a Greek root that means 'power.' Maybe I should have mentioned that in the video!
15:42 Blackjack among them. Also (mostly because of him in Combiner Wars), doesn't this mean that Sports Car Patrol (15:20) count as members of/affiliations with the Stunticons? Same with the Race Track Patrol.
30:06/30:21 Although what about his other attribute as a ninja like in Headmasters (since I kinda mix both of his traits)? And his famous quote "It's like shooting cyber-ducks in a barrel."?
I'm not familiar with the Headmasters cartoon beyond a few episodes, but wasn't there reference to him as a ninja consultant or something? 🤣 As for the line from Rebirth, it's definitely a good one!
Love this series what’s the next arc, is it me or dose the way the magnificence remind you of a magic 8 ball in how it works later, is that a Hasbro toy? My favourite was Ultra Magnus but I’m biased as he’s my favourite.
Thanks! The next arc for the retrospective is Escalation, but the next video will most likely be Transformers #2 from Skybound. As for the Magnificence, you're not wrong, it's definitely akin to a magic 8 ball in some ways! And according to Wikipedia, the magic 8 ball toy is manufactured by Mattel. But that would have been funny if it was Hasbro! :)
