Spotlight Grimlock

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:01 am

What happened to Matere's art? How'd it go from gorgeously Su-ian in Devastation to looking like a Marvel fill-in? It was Matere who did one of the Devastation issues, right?

Anyway, as for the story, seems more of a prologue than anything, and to McCarthy's story rather than Furman's. So in All Hail Megatron we've got Galvatron and Scorponok involved in some way with Megs' contingent, Grimlock being hunted by the Dynobots, and Hot Rod standing, bar Sunstreaker, against Megs. That is, if Shane McCarthy keeps all the Furman balls in the air.

I don't know if McCarthy can handle Furman's balls properly.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:19 pm

Furman's balls are just too much for him.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:39 pm

For anyone from what i've heard!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:07 pm

Mrs Furman would probably contest that!

Post by **Best First** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:37 am

Should i remain this topic; Spotlight: Simon Furman's balls?

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:48 pm

They do deserve a Spotlight all of their own.

Post by **snarl** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:19 pm

They're getting a mini series!

The way IDW are taking the story now is very interesting.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:22 pm

[attempts to find another balls joke]

[attemptfailed/]

Aw. Nuts.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:44 pm

snarl wrote:They're getting a mini series!

The way IDW are taking the story now is very interesting.

The Dynobots or Simon Furman's balls?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:09 pm

sprunkner wrote:What happened to Matere's art? How'd it go from gorgeously Su-ian in Devastation to looking like a Marvel fill-in? It was Matere who did one of the Devastation issues, right?

Roche and Musso filled in on Devastation. Matere's only previous IDW work was Spotlight Soundwave and the couple of pages in Megs Origin 2 where you could see what was going on.

Three colourists on this issue, apparantly. Shows.

So in All Hail Megatron we've got Galvatron and Scorponok involved in some way with Megs' contingent, Grimlock being hunted by the Dynobots, and Hot Rod standing, bar Sunstreaker, against Megs. That is, if Shane McCarthy keeps all the Furman balls in the air.

Nah. AHM is a year after Devastation, and the subnumbering is going to jump by 12. Revelations is gonna cover the first four of those numbers, with the other eight still unaccounted for... we've got at least one more series to wrap things up before AHM starts (chronologically, if not in publication terms).

And it seems that some (if not all) of those eight issues will be Furmo's "Maximum Dinobots" project. Which should cover all of it. Supposedly, by the time AHM rolls round, Earth will be completely free of Autobots.

I quite like the idea of a series pitting Grimlock against The Machination, whilst trying to free the Dynobots and possibly being hunted by Ultra Magnus. Guest starring Hunstreaker and Hot Rod. Yay.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:35 pm

The colouring is well off in this issue.

Otherwise, it's kinda fun.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:45 pm

Aye, the colouring is rather gash in places, to be honest.

Too dark, little contrast, and kind of blurry in places.

The lines are a bit of a mixed bag, some nice stuff in places, but also some parts that are too sketchy.

The story is actually kind of good tho, some solid characterization on Grimlock, who is depicted as quite frankly, UNUSUALLY insightful to his own persona.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:13 pm

Predabot wrote:Aye, the colouring is rather gash

Okay, seriously now, do you even know what that means?

The literal meaning. Without looking it up.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:25 am

a large cut, most often made by a nobleman's greatsword in a peasant's head?

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:36 am

don't help him.

As i have said at the IDW board, frankly i think the production values take the piss on this. I mean if i handed in a piece of work with the associated number of errors i would not expect to get a good response.

Story was pretty good and sets up Maximum: D well and i still have much love for Scorpy.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:25 pm

Eh, I've just posted a big old rant over at IDW.

I don't know if it's entirely justified, but hey, I'm 30 tomorrow and I'll be damned if I'ma mince my words.

Let's see what they have to offer in response, besides the usual IDW-sycophants coming out in defence of their product.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:55 am

i think people have every right to be annoyed - i mean i understand why IDW have to operate at a higher price point but given that they do these repeated errors and what, frankly, sometimes appears to be going cheap on the colourists (thinking Megs Origin as well as this title) one can't help but feel that corners are being cut.

Not to mention if they are trying to bring in nw folks this is a great way to put them off.

Oh, and happy birthday obvioulsy.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:15 am

For a comic that was originally solicited and highly promoted as being out in March, for it to come out late April and still be so shoddy is pretty unforgivable as far as I'm concerned.

Published release dates seem to mean nothing, based on Ryall's bewildered reaction to all those complaints when December's issue of Devastation was late.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:48 am

Whilst i think in general Mr R has done an excellent job on a lot of fronts he does seem to respond in a rather exasperated fashion to what i percieve as quite reasonable criticism or negative speculation - i wasn't impressed at all when he characterised the response to the AHM previews as "The Sky is falling" and his "you must learn to trust us" line seems a bit perverse in light of the quality of S: Grimmers.

This is one of those ones that the more i think about it the more i am irked by it.

Oh, and MV got told off by Denyer - ha ha.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:57 am

The fact the issue still contained an advert for Mirage as "one of two Spotlights in March" was an additional kick in the teeth.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:14 pm

Brendocon wrote:
Predabot wrote:Aye, the colouring is rather gash
Okay, seriously now, do you even know what that means?

The literal meaning. Without looking it up.

Well, sort of like rubbish or garbage, as well as... the naughtiest bits on a wummun' is what I've gathered it means.

{looks at urban dictionary}

Bligh me, it does look like Sprunkner is correct, it seems to come from something similar to that somewhat gory description.

But it would also appear to mean any number of things... I count quite a few variations here, and atleast 4 distinctly different individual meanings.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:33 pm

Predabot wrote:
Brendocon wrote:
Predabot wrote:Aye, the colouring is rather gash
Okay, seriously now, do you even know what that means?

The literal meaning. Without looking it up.
Well, sort of like rubbish or garbage, as well as... the naughtiest bits on a wummun' is what I've gathered it means.

Just checking.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:12 pm

Further to Brendocon's study of Contemporary English Slang, I would just like to take this opportunity to highlight the fact that 'Bligh' is a proper noun of the surname variety, as exampled in William Bligh, captain of the H.M.S. Bounty prior to its crew's mutiny (1789), and in no way a verb.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:36 pm

Aha, the old blimey/bligh me confusion.

Interestingly enough, Christian Slater says "blind me" in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which is apparently the correct olden days form of the curse...but then again he says it in a genuine middle-ages Texan accent, which kind of detracts from the scene...

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:54 pm

Yeah, "cor blimey" is apparantly a derivitive of "God blind me".

I learnt that from watching repeats of Get Some In on UK Gold in the early 90s. More specifically from the young religious recruit who refused to swear.

"Blight me" makes a kind of sense, I suppose.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:42 pm

Halfway into it did he hand it over to his eight year old son to colour? Because the artwork takes a real nosedive in quality for the middle section.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:01 pm

I can't wait for the release of Spotlights vol 3 TPB, in order to discuss the actual subject of the topic.

Actually, I can.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:34 pm

Was a pretty solid pice, I liked the artwork (even the humies, though Weston looked too much like Albert Einstein) especially the scene where Grimmers stomps around on the highway through cars... Now that is a scene Bay should keep in mind and bring Dinobots into TF2...

Scorpy was spot-on, and I'm starting to warm up to Dante (I was still pissed that Zarak got killed off, but then again we cannot thread into the same river twice). It was refreshing to see Grimlock getting his aft handed to him in his own Spotlight and that the Headmaster process actually makes them react faster and with better reflexes (as I always assumed). I reckon Maximum Dinobots will be a little like Dinobot Hunt, with Grimmy having to deal with his mind-controlled comerades while also running from the Machination. I don't think Magnus will show up - from other info we know he'll be busy following Arcee in the Revelations story.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 6:45 pm

Well, I enjoyed it.

It was quite throwback in its feel, both artwise and storywise, almost like it was from the old Marvel run.

The plot was quite simple. I mean, Grimlock busts free, rampages around like Godzilla, bumps into Scorpy, slugfest ensues. Quite simple.

But every now and then, you need a good slugfest between two heavy weights, to remind us why we got into Transformers in the first place. I mean, we got Grimlock blocking laser blasts with his sword! Cool.

Storywise, nothing profound. We do get Grimlock facing his inner guilt, though, and that's good to see. It will be interesting to see how he reconciles with his actions that condemned his compatriots.

I have mixed feelings about the art. Like I said, it kind of harkened back to something of yesteryear, but in some panels the lines weren't clear and it seemed almost abstract. Interesting style, but Marcelo clearly tires out as the issue progresses.

So very little profound here, but who cares. We got Grims vs. Scorpy.

And that's good enough for me.

A "B+".

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:23 am

*Re-reads Dinobot Hunt*

Okay. I'm expecting THIS level of quality from Maximum Dinobots.

Or my faith in Simon's balls will drop. And you don't want me dropping your balls, Mr Furman. So don't drop the ball.

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