nightbeat also got to spout a signature furman line: TIME I WASNT HERE!

 

^This.

 

Exactly.

Actually, that should've been the way Shattered Glass Nightbeat was done. Instead of being an evil cop, he should've been redecoed as the Mystery Machine an acted like Shaggy! Plus he could've had the classic evil-universe goatee, but more scraggly than usual. That would've been so awesome!

 

The same Thunderwing that slapped Prime in the face with a Matrix. Comix 4ever

 

Spot on.

I'm re-reading the comics at the moment, just passed Nightbeat et al and the Mechannibals! Looking forward to Thunderwing's reign.

 

"The Big Shutdown" was arguably one of the best introductory pieces in UK Transformers IMO. Marvel seemed to really pull off some great B&W stories around that time that still remain my favorites.

 

   








Anyway,

So he became popular because of the comics eh? I never read the comics & I don't remember him being in the show. He's just a blue car to me, I don't know the character at all. So I was wondering why out of all those cars I mentioned he's the one that everybody goes nuts over.

 

Because out of all those cars/truck you mentioned, Nightbeat did the most stuff. He was a detective, a problem solver, and thinks like no other Autobot. He played a significant role in the comics and became popular because his character was so good. He took down one of the most powerful Decepticons ever (Thunderwing, who easily smacked Grimlock, Jazz, Bumblebee, and Powermaster Optimus Prime around) despite not being the most powerful Autobot ever by using his brain and his cunning. Even Powermaster Optimus Prime couldn't do it. Just read some of the stuff he's done.

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Nightbeat_(G1)

 

Yeah, he never appeared in the cartoon; they stopped making it a little while before he theoretically would have turned up (bearing in mind the last ep starred the original Headmasters and Targetmasters; Powermasters and the mini-HMs and TMs would logically have been the next batches along). And he didn't appear in the later Japanese stuff either, because in Japan the figs were recoloured as different characters, so they didn't get Nightbeat and co at all.

It's all from the comics. I really would recommend grabbing some of the reprint trade paperbacks, there are some real gems there.

 

Do you have a recommendation of where to start in the tpbs? I am looking into getting a lot of these since I am only familar with DW and IDW. Specific titles of tpbs?

 

Not really, I'm afraid. The only ones I've got in TPB form are about the last four of G1 (Primal Scream, Matrix Quest (excellent place for Nightbeat goodness!), All Fall Down and End of the Road), and the two G2 ones, Dark Designs and Rage in Heaven. Those are from Titan.

I've got pretty much everything else in the original UK comics, so although I might get the TPBs eventually, I'm not really in any rush.
But I'd say start from the beginning...

 

I also read Eugenesis and loved his character in that.

 

Yeah - Nightbeat is awesome indeed due to Marvel.

I mean, he was around when Furman came up with some of his cliches!

 

Nightbeat is also awesome because of his transformer sized trench coat and fedora!

 

Beat me to it. About 10 years ago I came across the comics online, back before they started being recirculated or anyone really cared about them as being reprinted, and read the entire series online, and it really changed my perspectives on G1 after that. I had a few of the comics as a kid, but I never got into them, since for me it was Cartoon > Everything else essentially, but I've long since outgrown that.

 

I think once you put the tag of detective on a character they have so much potential for stories. Also, the detective style usually means the character will be spending lots of time on their own, meaning they don't have to share pages with other characters, and they also get lots of internal monologues.
Once your character is tagged as the problem-solver, any problems that come up which require clever thinking to solve means that character will be called upon.
And, as I'm sure we all know, if a character is cool in the media of comics, film or telly, then the toy will be considered cool as well, even if it's perhaps a bit crap. Cool characterizations made cool toys of such plastic arse as Bludgeon, Thunderwing and many others.

 

Why is Nightbeat so popular? Two words - Simon Furman.

#62 was the first US comic issue with Nightbeat and the first part of the Matrix Quest. I'm not sure if part 1 got reprinted in the Matrix Quest tpb or the one before that because of how the issues got divided up for the tpbs. Nightbeat is cool because he's a detective that's a little too dedicated to his job. I love Nightbeat! I'm looking forward to getting the TFCC toy if he's not too expensive.

 

Speaking of the TFCC one, how much is he supposed to go for? And when does he come out?

 

Yeah, I really enjoyed Furman's writing on the 3 above mentioned character - especially with Thunderwing!