Spotlight Hoist Preview

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:11 pm

http://tformers.com/transformers-spotli ... /news.html

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:12 am

Art is quite promisingly EJ Su-esque.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed May 01, 2013 11:27 pm

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. May be my favorite after the Shockwave spotlight. I think that with this issue, I can without reservation say Transformers as written by Roberts is the best comic title out there. Wow. I said it.

Seriously, Roberts is a writing genius who seems to just get better and better as we move along. A very clever, very fun self-contained story that should be the shining example of what a spotlight should ever hope to achieve.

I may be the only one who feels this way, but I'm loving Padilla's style and actually prefer his cleaner, less cluttered style to Milne's. Very E.J.-esque with a touch of Figueroa.

Give it a strong, strong "A+++" Perceptor stuck in the ceiling....or the floor rather. Ha! For the first time, Sunstreaker is a likable chap who still falls in line with his tech spec vanity.

Perfect!

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Thu May 02, 2013 8:45 am

Very nice writing. The art's not a bad change, but I think better suited to one-shots like this than to an ongoing. But the dialogue is AMAZING. Definitely one of the better spotlights. Though I think it kind of fizzles out at the end and feels unresolved. The first half is just paced and written so brilliantly that this stands out more than in most.

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Thu May 02, 2013 12:20 pm

For me, much better than Orion Pax, but not as good as Trailbreaker. And I didn't really think it was much of a 'spotlight: Hoist' - more of a 'let's throw these characters together and see how they sizzle'. Which is fine by me, but it leaves me feeling IDW should really give up the spotlight series now and move onto something like 'team ups'.

If you think about it, the spotlights have been hugely inconsistent, mainly because every writer has used them as a cover for doing a different type of story. Furman told a bunch of 'Meanwhile, elsewhere ...' stories that turned out to be essential to the main plot, McCarthy plugged his own plot holes in SL: Drift and Blurr, and Barber's recent ones have been continuity patch-jobs. Then there was Andy Schmidt's Metroplex, which was more like 'Introducing ... the Throttlebots!'

As for this issue, it was a great ... what's the name of the genre when people are stuck in a room together? That thing. Sunstreaker and Swerve's characterisation was bang on. Hoist's development was fine, but it feels more like something that begs to be built on, not a complete story.

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 02, 2013 4:51 pm

Yeah i'm with Jack - felt like Hoist only really featured in the second half of the issue to be honest.

Still all good fun and another TF comic at a quality level we could only have dreamed of a few years ago.

Death's Head · Post by **Death's Head** » Thu May 02, 2013 4:56 pm

As for this issue, it was a great ... what's the name of the genre when people are stuck in a room together?

In TV it would be a 'bottle episode'. I was saying to Auntie Slag over the Archive recently that James has drawn these characters so well that I could quite happily go for several issues of characters just riffing - and between this and MTMTE #13 it seems I got my wish!

It's a sign of how far the characterisation of Transformers has come that I can be happy just watching these personalities interact without a sniff of plot.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu May 02, 2013 7:40 pm

Death's Head wrote: It's a sign of how far the characterisation of Transformers has come that I can be happy just watching these personalities interact without a sniff of plot.

Word. A true testament to this guys writing prowess if ever there was one.

Yeah i'm with Jack - felt like Hoist only really featured in the second half of the issue to be honest.

I kind of got the feeling Roberts wanted Hoist to begin as a minor player, get a moment in the 'spotlight', no pun intended, and end pretty much the same as he began. This occurs in the past, yet we haven't seen anything of the guy since. May never see him again.

Mr_Tigg · Post by **Mr_Tigg** » Fri May 03, 2013 10:44 am

Must admit I thought it a little flat myself. Can't quite place my finger on it but it left me feeling cold. Maybe not enough Hoist-i-ness for my liking.

same goes for art - Some of its brilliant (the action set piece at the start) but some of it rather lazy (Shockwave looks like he's had one too many energon cubes!).

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sat May 04, 2013 12:31 am

Yeah, I do feel that was the intended conveyance of Hoist, and that it was indeed a well done spotlight dedicated to him.
He's a background character. A minor player, who just gets things done. Even when they're talking to him, I had to re-read it to realise just how much he's involved because you DON'T NOTICE him. On first reading it it was four pages of Swerve talking to Hoist before I even realised Hoist WAS THERE. And I felt that actually worked. Again, it's just that the story ITSELF falls a bit flat towards the end.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat May 04, 2013 1:50 pm

Sunyavadin wrote:Yeah, I do feel that was the intended conveyance of Hoist, and that it was indeed a well done spotlight dedicated to him.
He's a background character. A minor player, who just gets things done. Even when they're talking to him, I had to re-read it to realise just how much he's involved because you DON'T NOTICE him. On first reading it it was four pages of Swerve talking to Hoist before I even realised Hoist WAS THERE.

I think a lot of readers, particularly over on the IDW message boards, missed this point entirely. It was a Spotlight about a guy who does stuff behind the scenes, but nobody really notices. Because of this lack of attention, he has become fearful not of menacing Decepticons or transforming cities, but of being alone. And despite him being considered a second rate kind of bot and treated as such, he feels no animosity towards his comrades. On the contrary, he does what he has to for the sake of his friends, even if it means stepping into the "spotlight" and becoming the hero of the day.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sun May 05, 2013 2:58 am

I really enjoyed this! Great art. Nice wrap-up. Can we get this guy on a Springer spotlight?

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Sun May 05, 2013 8:38 am

I'm starting to think of these as extended episodes of The Lost Light crew as opposed to Spotlights, and its nice that they're designed to fit a certain point in the MTMTE timeline, which could allow for different viewpoints at the Temptoria battle, or what Gears, Hound, Brawn and co. were up to before they met Overlord.

One gripe though, Sunstreaker is supposed to be incredibly vain and good looking for a Transformer, and yet here the artwork makes him look rather dull and ugly. Compare how he looks here to his depiction in the Dreamwave issue where he, Sideswipe, Jazz and Marissa Fairborn meet the Insecticons at the cinema.

Not asking for that kind of look, but he does appear here as the ugliest version of Sunstreaker I've ever seen.

The rest of the art I liked. Tarn looked great, as did Hoist and some of the panels were very dynamic. I loved the simplicity of panning right out and up, seeing Hoist in vehicle mode hurtling across the expanse to get to the ship. Gave a brilliant impression of speed and desperation.

Post by **snarl** » Sun May 05, 2013 10:54 am

loved the art.

Really had an "earth force" contained vibe to it, just exciting enough, but at the same time plausible enough too

Post by **Computron** » Sun May 05, 2013 4:56 pm

Really enjoyed the art and I thought the issue as a whole was well put together, clever and well written. I think Ithe actually enjoyed it more than Trailcutter.

Post by **snarl** » Mon May 06, 2013 8:35 am

Anybody see this review?

http://www.fullmetalhero.com/content/en ... iler-6401/

Bloke's a clear as day ****.

Post by **Kaylee** » Mon May 06, 2013 9:04 am

The art did make a nice change

the story was interesting too, IMO, though I felt it ended a little abruptly.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon May 06, 2013 2:41 pm

snarl wrote:Anybody see this review?

http://www.fullmetalhero.com/content/en ... iler-6401/

Bloke's a clear as day ****.

I rather like the one-off, simpler stories. A nice hallmark back to the days of Marvel UK's little stories. Padilla really opened up and did well with action sequences. I was far less impressed with his talking heads in #16, which speaks to Milne's artistic ability in that I never find his dialogue scenes dull.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue May 07, 2013 1:38 am

snarl wrote:Anybody see this review?

http://www.fullmetalhero.com/content/en ... iler-6401/

Bloke's a clear as day ****.

"I know this is neither the time nor place, but..." this guys a douche.