Spotlight: Blurr Review (Spoliers)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:03 pm

Read it.

Didn't really do it for me, to be honest.

I mean, it achieves the goal of delivering a self contained character-driven one-shot.

But that's never really enough these days, is it? It just felt so generic and tired.

It's the same old cliche tale of a young punk who wakes up to the realities of his surroundings just in time to become a hero. It just felt like one of those old Furman character moments from the eighties rehashed, like an expanded version of a story you might find on the last page of an old UK TF comic or even in a Mosaic. Except back then, it was fresh and fun. Now it's just boring.

The dialogue was alright, the best moment in the story being Starscream's attempt at recruiting Blurr to the Decepticons over a few glasses of Energon. Cybertron's portrayal was well done. It's always nice to catch a glimpse of life on Cybertron pre-war. And the art was strong, so I was pleased there.

In the end though, the motivation behind Blurr's taking on the Autobot cause is not really convincing enough for me to really enjoy the moment. The whole "the lights, the roar" monologue at the end doesn't really do justice in explaining why Blurr is drawn to the Autobot cause. In fact, given his portrayal in the first half of this story, it would have made more sense if he joined the Decepticons.

After all, how does racing for personal glory and adoration, his initial characterization in the first half of the arc, lend itself to knowing "what I'm doing really matters" by joining the Autobot's and their selfless cause in the end? I know what Shane was trying to achieve as far a character development goes(ala Lightening McQueen, as someone so aptly mentioned), but the execution was weak, IMO. Maybe in the confines of a single issue, it's hard to achieve something like this as effectively as one would like.

That pivotal moment of self enlightenment, of self exploration followed by self determination so crucial in making this work is missed on me.

Also, the dialogue was so very Furmanesque, I would have sworn Simon wrote this.

I give it a "C". Good art, average story, average dialogue

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:25 pm

Yaya's unimpressed.

Must be rubbish then.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:55 pm

They still make TF comics?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:29 am

Brendocon wrote:Yaya's unimpressed.

Must be rubbish then.

Doesn't it usually go "Yaya's unimpressed, must be great!" around here?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:53 am

Nonono - Yaya like, probably rubbish. Not even Yaya like, almost definitely rubbish.

This week anyway. I reserve the right to make it up as I go.

Post by **snarl** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:55 am

I thought it was:

Yaya's Impressed: either good OR mediocre with good art
Yaya's given it a b-: It's probably good, but with lots of Furmanisms
Yaya gives it c- based on good art: avoid like Barrymore's swimming pool.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:53 am

Yaya loves = run for the hills. Or away from the hills, seeing as Omega Supreme is probably just beyond the hills.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 1:29 pm

snarl wrote:I thought it was:

Yaya's Impressed: either good OR mediocre with good art
Yaya's given it a b-: It's probably good, but with lots of Furmanisms
Yaya gives it c- based on good art: avoid like Barrymore's swimming pool.

That's actually kinda true.

You can do my reviews from now on.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:21 pm

Yaya wrote:
Yaya's Impressed: either good OR mediocre with good art

Or bad to average but characters demonstrate cartoonesque verbal ticks.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:56 pm

Eh, I dunno what to make of this. It's nice to see a slice of Cybertronian life before the war, and Blurr's quite an interesting character. I think he's handled quite well but...

...well, it's just that every time we have a flashback like this, it's always Starscream, Kup, Ironhide, Optimus...it shrinks the scale of the conflict to a disagreement between a few 'bots who run into each other every thousand years, exchange some harsh words and retreat, because non of them ever die or really change, except for the redshirts you know will die the second you clap eyes on them. For once, I'd like to see a story without the Sunbow leads jumping up and down shouting "Hey! Remember me? I'm Ironhide, the gruff combat veteran! Y'know, Southern accent, not afraid to get physical if the situation demands it, big red van - yeah, that's it, Ironhide. Look, here I am, hanging with Kup and Prime in the good old days." How about Piston as more than a "Hi-then-die" character? Why not have the rest of the cast as redshirts/generics, that way we're not sure who will survive?

Having said that, there's nothing here that really irks me, like an Alpha Trion cameo or white mantits on Prime. It's a functional tale and while it's a bit toony it's not overbearingly so. I like the idea of a new Prime we've not previously heard about (although a glimpse of him would be nice) and I even found Optimus's cut-down "soldier" character model oddly appealing.

In the end though, I think I'm siding with Yaya. There was no real reason for me why Blurr didn't side with Starscream. Unless he really did think Starscream was with the Autobots and he's been labouring under the misapprehension ever since...

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:17 pm

Spotlight: Blurr is probably the best issue that McCarthy has written considering the other four contenders are.

The title character is certainly handled well as is the portraial of Cybertron's pre-war society. Though its funny that the [old] emblem of the Kaon security forces has become a badge of resistance under pre-Prime Optimus.

Casey Coller's pencils are rather good and expressive.

Would've liked to see Zeta "Caretaker" Prime.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:31 am

You know, funny that everyone here praises the thing that irks me the most in the story - the Cybertron pre-war society.

For me, it felt too HUMAN. It was not really Cybertron, it was a cybertronian version of Earth... Blurr goes to races, has a mechanic staff like big racers do, drives a limo (Animated Bulkhead, btw....), goes to parties, drinks energon, (almost) uses drugs... I was glad they left out the 'scantly-clad femmbots' part that I was sure to follow.

So, I mean, it didn't feel like a Transformers comic for me (yeah, Blurr transformed... twice...) - the same comic with a different art but similar dialogue could have easily been a DC comic about the Flash in some alternate reality, for all I care.

The art was nice, very detailed... but it really felt odd that some Bots like Blurr or Starscream have obviously been designed by another artist who made them with transformations in minds, while others like Kup or Piston just felt like blocky non-transforming mechanoids. And OP looked like a jumbled mess of G1, TWW and Animated Prime...

Also it seems Shane is even contradicting Eric Holmes now, not just Furman, as ... who the heck is Zeta Prime? We know that at this time of the war (which seems to be still in the early stages) Sentinel was the Prime (Holmes implied Sentinel was not dead, just beaten at the end of Megs Origin), and OP came directly after him (judging by OP's reminiscence in his own Spotlight).

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:36 pm

Took me a coupla reads to spot this, but the last two pages are some of the worst written pages of a Transformers comic I think I've ever seen. The Decepticon assassination squad, led by STARSCREAM, are jogging towards their target? Did Starscream just forget he can turn into a jet? As Blurr runs past them he gives his men the order to stand and fire?

The more I think about it, the more it spoils the issue for me now

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:27 am

What about the Autobot stop-the-assassins-squad forgetting they can transform while we're at it.

I'm going to be (rather) generous toward McCarthy on Zeta Prime, namingly him being a caretaker while Sentinel was getting patched up... nah, that doesn't really work.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:26 pm

Right, finally read this.

Uhm... did Blurr actually join the Autobots, then? Or did he just run away from the decision?

Post by **Best First** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:26 am

Also the notion that an Auto team consisting of Kup, IH and Optimus couldn't stick it up some team with SS and Skywarp doesn't really fly.

How many scenarios, ever, have you seen where the 'bots key men go, "Sh*t, we need Blur!"

veritech · Post by **veritech** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 4:55 pm

I was actually going to pick this up, but then I realized that of the two comic shops near me none will carry TF comics anymore. Thus, I am forced into the realm of trade paperback!

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 5:56 am

About Zeta Prime: McCarthy has, with a very silly name, put some space between modern IDW and Megatron: Origin. There's the "sh*te" period of Cybertron history by Eric Holmes, then the "wanky" period by McCarthy, leading to the "hellz yea" period by Furman. It's very Mesozoic.

(See how I put a pretty face on it?)

[edit: the filter actually cuts "sh*te?" It's a cutesified version of the real word. You crazy Brits, git yer-fancydam tea-drinkin butts some ejooocation.]

I get that from my LCS too, veritech. Then when they order mine in they forget, even the one where I go out to movies and dinner with the guys who work there. They're never on the shelves anymore--although I did get Animated: The Arrival off the shelf.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:31 pm

BB Shockwave wrote:You know, funny that everyone here praises the thing that irks me the most in the story - the Cybertron pre-war society.

For me, it felt too HUMAN. It was not really Cybertron, it was a cybertronian version of Earth... Blurr goes to races, has a mechanic staff like big racers do, drives a limo (Animated Bulkhead, btw....), goes to parties, drinks energon, (almost) uses drugs... I was glad they left out the 'scantily-clad fembots' part that I was sure to follow.

HELL YES! Why does pre-war Cybertron have bars and miners? At least in TWW Optimus was working in data entry--something that makes some kind of sense for robots.

Everything in the Blurr and Megatron comics are based on a sexually reproductive society made up of independent organisms--associating at bars, for instance, getting drunk and playing games as ways of connecting and possibly reproducing. Or working individually in a difficult, unrewarding and dangerous job--a job which is becoming obsolete because things are getting MORE MECHANIZED? as if Morigin could get anymore WTF.

None of this thinking makes sense, or ever has, for mechanically-based beings. They would not have evolved by disseminating superior traits through reproduction within a polygenous gene pool. No, even for a non-tech guy like me, it's clear that for a machine to become self-evolving, if it didn't reproduce, it would have to be uploading some kind of parent programming at different intervals(the Matrix)--or getting physical upgrades--and the same way our society is organized around attempts at reproduction, the machines' society would be organized around this upgrade.

But no, no one can come up with anything better than bars where they drink oil and hang out like a bunch of loser guys at a party with no chicks.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:09 pm

sprunkner wrote:About Zeta Prime: McCarthy has, with a very silly name, put some space between modern IDW and Megatron: Origin. There's the "sh*te" period of Cybertron history by Eric Holmes, then the "wanky" period by McCarthy, leading to the "hellz yea" period by Furman. It's very Mesozoic.

But then, after Maximum Dinobots. We'll get the second coming of McCarthyism: All Hail McCarthy!

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:23 pm

Manchester Devil wrote:
sprunkner wrote:About Zeta Prime: McCarthy has, with a very silly name, put some space between modern IDW and Megatron: Origin. There's the "sh*te" period of Cybertron history by Eric Holmes, then the "wanky" period by McCarthy, leading to the "hellz yea" period by Furman. It's very Mesozoic.
But then, after Maximum Dinobots. We'll get the second coming of McCarthyism: All Hail McCarthy!

It's very "post-acraptalyptic"

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 2:05 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:There was no real reason for me why Blurr didn't side with Starscream. Unless he really did think Starscream was with the Autobots and he's been labouring under the misapprehension ever since...

I would totally buy every future comic with Blurr in, if they went with this premise.

It'd be like an ongoing Monty Python skit in the background of every story.

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:06 pm

sprunkner wrote:Everything in the Blurr and Megatron comics are based on a sexually reproductive society made up of independent organisms--associating at bars, for instance, getting drunk and playing games as ways of connecting and possibly reproducing.

Er, what?