Another new Spotlight announced

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:43 am

Simon Furman's announced on his blog what the "next" IDW Spotlight issue will be. Presumably this will be the one after Blaster. Scheduled for Feb 08.

http://simonfurman.wordpress.com/2007/1 ... tlight-is/

Arcee.

Written by Furman, drawn by Milne.

Both covers by Milne.

Looks to be tying into the "Expansion" storyline. Furman's blog mentions Jhiaxus and the cover seems to also feature the Monstructorbots (don't feel right calling them Pretender Monsters when they aren't Pretenders).

Also, maybe tellingly (though it is just pencils), there's no faction insignia on the 'bot "herself."

Obviously being Arcee doesn't mean she's "female"... we've got a single uni-boob. And didn't SF say something about no fembots? I'm genuinely intrigued to see how this is gonna be done. Arcee as something other than "pink and girly" is something TF genuinely could benefit from.

Post by **Kaylee** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:50 am

Hm yes

Have to see how this plays out but, imo, it's certainly any area which has consistently been ****** up in just about every TF continuity/media so it'd be nice to see 'female' characters done well [fingers crossed that they go down the 'female is a human concept, robots are robots' line].

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:45 am

Nice. My sister's gonna want to read this.

Anyone else notice the arm-mounted blades and energy sword?

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:29 am

Do you honestly think I’d miss an opportunity to try and explain away what I always felt was one of the most difficult concepts to wrap your head around in relation to Transformers, ie. gender? No way. Expect an IDW-verse answer here. It’s provocative to say the least.

Hmmm, still holding reservations, but I have faith in the man who brought us Prime's Rib.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:08 pm

SFs blog response is pretty encouraging on that front.

altho i remain slightly edgy about the concept being introdued.

Hopefully Milne's art will be more like the sample pages we have seen for Origin 4 than previous efforts.

Although i can think of other artists i would prefer to see utilised.

Is that Max on the cover as well?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:11 pm

Best First wrote:Is that Max on the cover as well?

Think so, yeah.

Dead Head · Post by **Dead Head** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:12 pm

I'm ever-hesistant over this fembot stuff. As mentioned, 'Prime's Rib' is about the only half-decent take on it in any canon.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:45 pm

i think this will be an interesting one on the reaction front, frankly i'm hoping some of the fans of the fembots in their previous incarnations hate it...

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:49 pm

If people who like fembots hate something, it's almost universally a good thing.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:38 pm

Wait. Volume 3?

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:47 pm

First five were "wolume 1", next five are "volume 2", "volume 3" starts with Blaster.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:50 pm

Ah. I'd thought they all said vol 1 on the inside covers.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:09 pm

TPB vol 3, as opposed to issue run vol 3.

Like "X-Men" is actually X-Men vol 2 as they reset the numbers back in the 90s. Though vol 1 is still ongoing, retitled Uncanny. Et cetera.

Obviously different rules apply to Spotlight as they scrapped any form of coherent numbering system after Nightbeat.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:12 pm

that Scott lad's good value, eh?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:18 pm

Oh god yes.

"I hate your writing, but I buy everything." or words to that effect.

Uhm. Why? I hated DW's G1 vol 2. So I didn't buy vol 3. Easy, no?

Post by **Best First** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:03 pm

then again - my TF completist urge compelled me to buy most of the DW stuff, even though i largely dispised it.

However i did have something Scott seems to lack - the ability to enunciate why.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:13 pm

What's the betting that Prime and the others were "screwed up" by the fact that they either:

a) weren't exactly what he wanted them to be about
b) had other characters in them
c) the characters weren't exactly how they've been in the past

Eh?

Muppets. The spotlights aren't character studies - they're sections of the story that are told from that perspective.

In other travesties, I hear that Starbuck's a chick.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:11 pm

This is certainly going to be an interesting spotlight, even if the art duties are given to Alex Milne, in terms to charactisation and how far Nova Prime and Jhiaxus are going.

Hello there Cybertronians who will become Monstructor!

EDIT: Almost forgot: We have Blaster, Acree and Grimlock's spotlights confirmed. Who are the other two going to be?

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:33 pm

Hmm, looks really intersting.

For all her fanbase, did Arcee ever get any characterisation other then being "The Transformer Chick"? I mean, Blackarachnia did at least became memorable for her scheming nature and later her switching sides, but Arcee was alway left one-dimensional.

Other then Arcee, there'll be Nova Prime, Jhiaxus, Fort Max and the (to be) Monster Pretenders in this one... And I can't wait to see how Simon explains femmebots this time. Prime's Rib wasn't bad though, but we can expect a more serious explanation this time, I bet.

Thought I'd comment at SF's blog but then, you guys beat me to saying anything new. I bet Scott is Silverstreak from Seibertron. There aren't many people who prefer stupid Dinobots...

EDIT: Hmm, looking at it again, I think the face at the bottom of the cover is Ultra Magnus... The antennas and the crest resemble his anyway. But Milne's faces are so alike, it's hard to be sure.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:56 pm

Especially with all those pointy teeth.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:34 am

Yeah, I had a hard time accepting Wildman's TFs who had teeth and tongues back then, but I Milne goes the extra mile to make them all look like vampires...

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:28 am

I'd rather have Wildman going back to the humanoid faces he used to draw in the Marvel comics or Dan Reed's wobbly artwork than Milne's pointy teeth bonaza.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:46 pm

Arcee's lack of insignia and accesories are having me think a mercenary/O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill type vibe, which would be cool.

And Fort Max? Sweet. The cover reminds me of a 1970s sci fi spaghetti western.

I loved Wild's humanoid faces. When you say Furman Marvel US, the first image that pops into my head is Prowl's face scrunched up in anger, yelling and spitting over the dead body of Optimus Prime post US 75.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:08 am

Explaining fem-bots away, as simply making a TF with a human form that looks more female, i can understand.

Saying that, are all TF male then, if Arcee is female?

rusty_herring · Post by **rusty_herring** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:00 pm

I'll be looking forward to this one. The intrigue alone is interesting.
I dunno if Furman even needs an explanation to why there are fembots. I say, why not?

I would like to see Arcee toughened up a bit then generi-pink token female, which is why I always liked the other female transformers more. Elita-1 is all pink too but at least she seems to have some personality. Also Arcee has always been given an incredibly 'girly' form.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:42 pm

The way I see it, the only reason for bringing fembots into it, is due to the apparent engendering of the other transformers, and that is only because it is easier to empathise with a 'he' than an 'it'.

Bringing in Arcee as a fembot begs the question of where all the other fembots are. However, bringing in Arcee as simply a robot with unique appearance can have completely different meaning, sidesteps the issue of other 'missing' fembots, and keeps the transformers genderless.

On another note, are we sure that's Fort Max? The body (what we can see of it, anyway) looks a little too symmetrical to be the robot with a lunchbox in his shoulder. Well, to me, anyway.

I don't have any other suggestions as to who it might be, tho.

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:47 pm

Rebis wrote:On another note, are we sure that's Fort Max?

Positive. Read Furman's Oct. 7th blog.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:48 am

I'm really looking forward to the new IDW comics featuring stupid Dinobots, fembots and Optimus Prime kicking ass all the time.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:48 am

Not stupid Dinobots... bah

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:43 pm

Hot Shot wrote:
Rebis wrote:On another note, are we sure that's Fort Max?
Positive. Read Furman's Oct. 7th blog.

I managed not to reveal the subject of the second (or three) Spotlights I’m currently writing for IDW, but did let slip that (within the covers of that same un-named Spotlight) a certain Fortress Maximus makes his full IDW debut (albeit in a supporting role).

Arcee is definitely the second (or three) Spotlights?