Well I have recently recieved this trade paper back along with IDW's Spotlight Vol 3 but have only got around to just reading all of Vol 2 and wanted to share my thoughts on it. Just a warning its 6am here and i've barely been awake an hour, so I will rely on a shit load of commas The Good: Spotlight Kup - wow what a great visual tone created by Nick Roche that realy dipicted Kup's mental state along with creating a very different and memorable story, that actually kept your interest and made me want to see where it all lead. Crazy Kup interpreting help as monsters trying to take him away from his happy place, was a great way to show how mashed his head is along with making him have some obscure moments with Outback who was dead yet Kup hadn't quite noticed. It was great to see Trailbreaker be the one who saved the day, as I was expecting someone cliche like Hot Rod. I give it 5 out of 5 Spotlight Ramjet - While for myself a spotlight on Ramjet was a little unexpected but overall it was quite nice to see one and I thought it was an enjoyable story. Compared to Kup's this is much more basic story telling with Ramjet wanting to simply over throw Megatron with a convuluted plan and in the end it just come down to Megatron blowing him to bits, putting Ramjet in his place.....dead. For its simple story and easy enjoyment I find it hard not to like it so I give it 4 out of 5. Spotlight Soundwave - Soundwave is told to follow Bludgeon at Megatron's request only to take interest in what Bludgeon is upto and wanting a part of the fun, which in end turns out to be a tactical error. Fair enough I can live with that. It was cool to see a take on Soundwave where he seemed to show independant thought in full and it got him in shit, especially since he hadn't really found out what Bludgeon was upto before wanting to be apart of it, made him seem a little eager to have more power. Great to see Ravage and Laserbeak tear things up even if it doesn't end up too well, also the conclusion with Soundwave being stuck in alt mode seemed fitting to be able fit him in the overall -tion series. It gets a 3.5 out of 5 from me. The Bad Spotlight Galvatron - Its Galvatron...say it slowly if only for more effect....Galvatron. He is a bad ass, just not in this story. Ok fine he kills a bunch of Aliens and Leadfoot but I wanted more from him than just a story about trying to find Thunderwing. The story even at one point focus's on Sideswipe and how he wants to help find Sunstreaker then having a verbal fight with Hound, which is great but it was just in there to be there maybe to help fill the space, it meant nothing to the Galvatron Story. A proper Sideswipe v Galvatron battle would have worked but alas it doesn't come to pass as Galvatron just strolls up, one shots everyone and survives a headshot (because he is a bad ass) and runs off with Thunderwing. Now that i've wrote this it seems like the story wasn't so bad but it really didn't come accross that way, I actually felt a little confused at one point and had to re-read a fair bit to see if I understood what was supposed to be going on and more importantly where. Overall I was dissapointed so it get s a 2 out of 5 from me. Spotlight Optimus Prime - What the Fuck! Prime is pre-occupied and can't deal with it all now so wants to talk it out with someone, that someone being Omega Supreme (cool) who is hidden away (why?). Yet it seems Prime was followed by some of Nova Prime's experimental Combi team thingies that turn into a monster. So they attack Supreme because they are pissed at him for some reason yet end up defeated. Prime's all like , just like I. You have Prime and Omega Supreme in a story so you have them fight random nobodies, without actually advancing anything at all. I'm guessing I missed something important and relevant to the overall series as this story did nothing for me at all. It gets 0.5 out of 5 from me, the 0.5 is for the art. There are my thoughts, maybe not perfectly written but enough to get the idea. Either way i'm looking forward to Volume 3, i just hope it has more Nick Roche in it
The Pretender Monsters are hardly nobodies, sir! And Monstructor will drain the life out of you for besmirching his menace!
haha, i just read up on them on tfwiki and realised I was clearly missing something. It just seemed random for them to be in the story but I suppose it would if I knew nothing of them
