Ramjet Spotlight Review (SPOILERS)

[Yaya]

Huh. That was darn good stuff.

As a stand alone story that fit's into the overall continuity, it's a really nice effort by Moore. Very strong dialogue, some of the best from IDW yet. Good characterization, something I wasn't expecting given Moore's performance on the New Avengers crossover bit. It's like the guy has been spending his free time getting caught up on TF lore or something, because on this front he delivers the goods.

And the artwork was fantastic! No problem here telling what's going on, I'll tell you that. This Musso/Burcham effort is crisp, clear, and cool. I hope to see more from this team, as it's some of the best I've seen from IDW.

The plot, though simple, was presented in such a way that I was hooked despite the cliche 'subordinate attempting to overthrow leader" theme. Wasn't expecting that. For a minute there, I actually believed Ramjet might pull it off.

And the Miniconstruciticons were the breath of fresh air that I have been hoping for for a long time. Now that's the kind of characterization I like to see. It shows how dialogue can infuse even characters that last but a few panels with some real character. It's not cookie-cutter characterization, let's just say that.

What I didn't like was the character choice here. Clearly, this was a tale that was already fashioned in the mind of Moore, and then it was an "insert generic character here" kind of tale. If you're going to go that route, at least insert a character who can actually come up with such a far reaching plan, and not one who notoriously solves problems by smashing things with his head. (Unfortunately, there is no such scene in this tale, which makes it a more strange depiction of Ramjet).

Pleasantly surprised though by this comedic spotlight. I give it an "A-", finding very little not to like here.

[snarl]

I thought the dialogue was pretty effing cheesey and a bit unnatural for a lot of it.

I've not worked out whether I really like the fact that Ramjet keeps saying "Excellent" all the time, or if it annoyed me... I was kinda smiling at the cheese factor of it every time, so I suppose I probably like it.

I mean, it paints him as an effing self-important clowny idoit... and to say much more really would give the game away.

Having said that, it was an enjoyable enough romp, not taxing, self contained and with a sting in the tail.

Reminded me a lot of the black and white earthforce filler towards the end of the UK run.

I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more then that pompous ******* waste of time **** Megatron wank fest.

I read that again, it really is a muddle pile of UTTER garbage, a total waste and definitely has the bad AIDS.

I swear blind the only way you can make something that bad is if you're an idiot or if you did it on purpose.

Oh yeah, agreed on the art for Ramjet, that was real pretty too.

[Yaya]

I mean, it paints him as an effing self-important clowny idoit... and to say much more really would give the game away.

Yeah, I think that's the aspect of it that I like most. The guy thinks himself so brilliant, but lacks the smallest degree of common sense. And pays for it (dearly), not just by getting the **** beaten out of him, but also getting his remains scattered across the earth.

Also, you can tell his head is stuck up his ass when he assumes that dunce of a facsmilie is actually reliable. That was pretty much when I thought "This guy is roadkill".

[Metal Vendetta]

I liked it...it's a bit fluffy and throwaway, but it's a long way from being the worst TF comic I've read recently. "Yo yo, R.J., whassup?" made me clench my teeth but by the end of it I even found the "Emcees" quite endearing.

[sprunkner]

Meh. I hated the writing but loved the art, for the most part. It seemed a good excuse to have Megatron absolutely waste a minor character, sort of the Starscream plotline from Infiltration in short.

[Denyer]

That was fun. At no point does RJ actually seem to have a plan to deal with Megs, he's just clutching a device that'll let him know where his enemies are...

Liked the re-emphasised aspect that Megatron's supposed to be handing over to another commander by this point... it raises the question of whether he really is at the top of the command hierarchy (and just following through his own protocols) or part of a group of equally dangerous individuals.

Furman's indicated he'll probably do something with the character, so we might be seeing Ramjet get edited down from 'stupid' to 'stupid grunt'.

Wouldn't say this confirms sparks* in this continuity, but characters do appear to have critical systems in their chests (laser cores?)

Looked good, read fine. So what the hell went wrong with TF/Avengers?

3.5/5

*As shown in series like BM, anyway. Sparks and spark-cores seem to be functional rather than having an independent existence and a mythology around them.

[Best First]

Meh. I hated the writing but loved the art, for the most part. It seemed a good excuse to have Megatron absolutely waste a minor character, sort of the Starscream plotline from Infiltration in short.

wouldn't say i hated it but there wasn't really anything to it as far as i was concerned.

Fluff with nice art. meh.

[Brendocon]

Good fun. Throwaway stuff.

Ramjet's approach to his MCs is the same as Megatron's approach to him, which is a nice touch.

Nothing superb, but my no means rubbish. Ends a bit abruptly, but that's probably the point. Little tale of the Decepticon who counted his chickens before et cetera.

Did Skywarp drop RJ in it?

[BB Shockwave]

I just read it and... what the **** was this about???

I mean, it started out nicely, with Ramjet setting about 10 (sometimes ridiculous) plans in motion which would insure his leadership over Megs. Then... BANG, Megatron pops out of thin air and kills him. THE END?!

For me this was darn confusing and illogical. I kinda liked the portayal of RJ as the pompous arrogant fool with plans that are pretty good actually, but over-complicated (like in Pinky and the Brain). But we never got a good look at WHY he feels the need to overthrow Megs. In the past, everyone had a good reason, thirst for power (Starscream), feeling Megatron lost the true Con way (Scorpy), or pure logic (Shockwave), but Ramjet is a cypher thrown into the thick of the story established as "the lone wolf who wants to overthrow Megatron". So if Megatron's aware of this, why did he tolerate him until now? Why bring him to Earth?

But more lacking is the ending. WE can start guessing if it was Skywarp or an MC who ratted ramjet out, but it'd have been nice to have that explained. And the scattering of his body was plain stupid - nice move, Megs, now the USA and the EU has access to Cybertronian tech thanks to you!

I just don't get the joke... So the big pun was supposed to be that Ramjet thought about anything but not about the crucial point of actually dealing with Megs in physical combat? Stupid or not, I don't bite that a Decepticon who spent millions of years fighting a war developed plans for everything except for actually killing Megatron. That's... illogical.

Which is a shame, as the concept is good, and some elements like the faulty facsimile, the "Win 50000 EU!" letters with the 'nano-Euros' or the MC's were pretty fun and interesting ideas. (though one would think twice about picking up a flier dropped from an unidentified fighter jet...) And the art is fabulous. I just think the ending totally ruined the whole thing for me.

We know Megatron isn't the "forgive and forget" type as you can all remember from G2 with him taking back his position from Bludgeon, but so far, IDW Megatron seemed to be a pretty calculating and mostly calm leader who hates to waste resources - see how he offered a second chance for Starscream's team even after some of them attacked him in person, and how he didn't utterly destroy Starscream.

I find it hard to believe Simon could bring Ramjet back. The art suggests Megs ripped out and crushed his spark core then scattering his body... A pretty final death as far as I'm concerned.

[Predabot]

I think he did drop RJ in it. But I also think Megs has a firmly good grasp of all of the over-achievers with illusions of grandeur in his fold, so like some with some others, he was just waiting for something like this.

Are the brown walking stick-thingies he inserts into human locations a version of Insecticons do ye' think, btw?

When all's said and done, I don't think we'll be seeing Ramjet for quite some time, Emcees or not. Like they said, harsh.

[Denyer]

the scattering of his body was plain stupid - nice move, Megs, now the USA and the EU has access to Cybertronian tech

By this point, Megatron's abandoned the phases and called in Sixshot. He's also been humiliated in Brasnya and is looking for someone to take it out on.

I find it hard to believe Simon could bring Ramjet back. The art suggests Megs ripped out and crushed his spark core then scattering his body... A pretty final death as far as I'm concerned.

He bothers to take the head, and is seen holding the spark core but not to destroy it.

[Yaya]

Well, I for one hope this is the end of RJ.

As I said before, what good is a tale when life or death is never at stake?

Short of atomization, there wouldn't be any means for killing of any bot if what Megatron has done to RJ doesn't do the trick.

I just read it and... what the **** was this about???

I mean, it started out nicely, with Ramjet setting about 10 (sometimes ridiculous) plans in motion which would insure his leadership over Megs. Then... BANG, Megatron pops out of thin air and kills him. THE END?!

I think that was the whole point, that he had all these clever ideas, and suddenly, he's cannon fodder because of a blinding sense of self-righteousness and a complete lack of common sense.

I don't know, I thought it was good fun and hope to see more of this kind of thing. Actually, it's kind of what I thought the spotlights were going to end up being when they were first introduced, that they would be only loosely connected to the main story, and not integral parts of it.

I suddenly understand now what all the hype was about how fun those short stories in the back of the UK comics were.

The Spotlights for the most part, whether they involve major plot points or minor ones, have been a blast, IMO.

[Brendocon]

I think that was the whole point, that he had all these clever ideas, and suddenly, he's cannon fodder because of a blinding sense of self-righteousness and a complete lack of common sense.

Yep. He was so concerned with grand sweeping "three dimensional" plans that encompassed the bigger picture that he failed to see what was right in front of him. Or, in this case, right behind him.

Actually, it's kind of what I thought the spotlights were going to end up being when they were first introduced, that they would be only loosely connected to the main story, and not integral parts of it.

Yup. After Galvatron and Prime, it's nice to have another Spotlight that [presumably] isn't required reading.

[Denyer]

Well, I for one hope this is the end of RJ.

As I said before, what good is a tale when life or death is never at stake?

Short of atomization, there wouldn't be any means for killing of any bot if what Megatron has done to RJ doesn't do the trick.

Sure there would. Megatron has to make a choice whether to destroy the spark-core (and hence the spark inside). Elsewhere, Kup's spark-core is extremely fragile due to age and wear... they're certainly not indestructable.

It just means that TFs can be reduced down to a core component as long as that component isn't further damaged. Which is something considerably different to and less of a stretch than sparks in BW/BM, where after death they magically return to the allspark, prompt bodily alterations in Primal, are pieces of Primus, etc.

And yeah, what everyone else has said about this spotlight reminding of the UK shorts.

[spiderfrommars]

Thought it was a bit dull, but loved the art.

Is this the first Spotlight without a continuous internal momologue?

That fascimile was acting pretty conspicuously - security at the Pentagon must be bad.

Why would Megs bother to spread Ramjet's body across the world?