TF Views

Dominic wrote:When did Sixshot get taken out by Galvatron? He got jobbed in the Metroplex "Spotlight".

And even then, Sixshot's hand was shown moving to indicate he's still alive.

In fact, right there in the comic, Impactor refuses to kill Overlord, and promises to take him through the proper channels For Great Justice. (Of course, Overlord was also on fire at this point.)

But Deathy saying some of this stuff makes me wonder just how grossly Deathy misreads these things. What the fuck "microvirus" is he even talking about?

Dominic wrote:I got the impression that he wanted Ratbat subdued, but is just not too upset that he died. (Look at the conversation he and Arcee have about it. "Uh, did you at least try to arrest him?" "Yeah. Sorry. Could not make it happen." "Bullshit, but ah screw it."

I read that more as Prowl coaching Arcee through some plausible deniability. "Hey, I killed Ratbat for you." "No, no, we're the good guys, say you tried to arrest him and he resisted." "Oh, okay." He knows damned well he ordered an assassination, but 'officially' it was an arrest gone awry.

Have I mentioned that I think Prowl's kind of fantastic in this?

Prowl definitely is one of the highlights of the series. I really like seeing him fleshed out like this.

I think it is less a question of ordering an assassination and more a question of deliberately creating a situation that is going to lead to somebody getting killed. (For real hilarity, can you imagine what might happen if Ratbat had lived?)

Dom
-oh, like you never thought of that....

Issue 4:

This issue is a reall good character study of Prowl. Prowl's monologue reveals his collusion with Starscream. However, it is also revealed that Prowl was not trying to get Ratbat killed. The implication is that he used Arcee because he needed somebody who would stay quiet about something that needed to be kept quiet. And, she may end up being a point of failure in his plans given how blood thirsty she is.

Barber's editorial strength for polishing over trouble spots comes in to play this issue when Prowl ruminates about the incident with Spike.

Events conspire to keep Prowl from discovering that the ID chips have been disarmed. He assumes that Bombshell's chip is simply not working. But, later, when he corners the Constructicons, it is in an area where his controller has signal, but the Decepticons jamming signal presumably cannot reach. (Being able to blow up the Constructions would probably be enough to set Prowl at ease, despite Bombshell and Skywarp being able to more freely than he might otherwise hope.)

Prowl makes two pretty serious mistakes. Prowl should not have pointed his gun at Dirge so hastily. (Note Dirge's reaction.) And, it might have been better to take Bombshell alive in order to interrogate him. But, Prowl is not presented as being on his A game this issue, so the mistakes are fine in this context.

Grade: A

-late edit:
I made the mistake of reading AllSpark. They have more than a page of whining about the fact that an obscure Predator character died in this issue. And, the inevitable "good when Roche/Roberts do it, but bad otherwise" factor finally manifests with complaints about Prowl.


Dom
-more of a plot point review than normal.

I will say IDW has been really willing to do some legit kills lately, and one wonders exactly how much of the cast they're going to end up with by the end of this. (That said, people rarely come back...he says as he reads about Fort Max returning in MTMTE.)

Transfans are a weird bunch. They get buttmad if you don’t use or kill the nostalgia-riding ’84-’85 characters, but they also love seeing ‘obscure’ characters get used and get buttmad if those guys get shoved to the side or killed. Did anyone really give a crap about Predator Skydive before they got to whine about Barber killing him in this issue? I’ll be honest: I didn’t even realize he was one of the Predators when I was reading it, I only just now caught that from reading Dom’s post. I figured this extra Skydive was just a redshirt Barber had cooked up to use, like the spare Aerialbot who exploded last issue.

I am, however, totally buttmad that Sunstorm got killed in this issue.

Anyway, my thoughts on this issue:

Barber must’ve heard me saying Prowl was my favorite part of this book, since we get a pretty big dose of him here, though Blurr and Arcee get plenty of face time too (it’s kind of driving me crazy, but I’ve really grown to like Arcee too). More of Prowl’s delightful self-assured cockiness comes in (love his line about ‘his favorite kind of mystery’ when he finds the cerebro-shell) and we get to see the self-assured part of that persona start to fade as things unravel around him and he desperately tries to hold it together (his panic while giving instructions to Blurr is very telling). We also get to see just how badly Spike’s betrayal back in Police Action effected him, and that they use it to handwave the half-assed attempt they made at ‘reforming’ Prowl in the early parts of the Ongoing is just a nice bonus. I also like the contrast they use for his actions: Bumblebee had a hell of a time getting up the gumption to detonate the I/D chip in one Decepticon (and it wasn’t even actually him), while Prowl here has no issue pulling the trigger on the five remaining Constructicons, and doesn’t even agonize over it afterwards the way Bumblebee did (though he does turn around a few pages later and ask Arcee if killing Sunstorm was really necessary. Prowl, you just blew the heads off five dudes, I don’t think you can call Arcee out of line at this point). Heck, he isn’t even repentant about throwing Blurr to the wolves as a diversion, and if the last page is any indication, it’s his growing paranoia that’s to blame for his rapidly lengthening downward spiral. I’m continue to be really, really interested in where they’re taking Prowl with this.

Apparently Sky-Byte is getting introduced into the story in the next issue, I’m not really sure how I feel about that. I’ll try to stay on the end of cautiously optimistic.

Costa himself resolved Prowl's characterization. Remember, "Spotlight: Prowl" was based on content that was goint to be revealed in flashback over the course of Costa's run. And, given that most writers plan things out, we can reasonably assume that Costa planned for Spike to be a thugcratic punk and for that to leave Prowl disillusioned. This comes across pretty clearly in "Police Action".

I am, however, totally buttmad that Sunstorm got killed in this issue.

IDW is not kind to the named Seekers.
Thrust, Ramjet and now Sunstorm are dead. On the other hand, Ramjet is the only one of those three to get any real use in IDW. (And, that use was mainly to set up the joke of how he died. Ironically, this is my favourite use of the character. Dead Furman-esque Ramjet is much better than living thug Ramjet.)

Prowl, you just blew the heads off five dudes, I don’t think you can call Arcee out of line at this point). Heck, he isn’t even repentant about throwing Blurr to the wolves as a diversion, and if the last page is any indication, it’s his growing paranoia that’s to blame for his rapidly lengthening downward spiral. I’m continue to be really, really interested in where they’re taking Prowl with this.

Completely different circumstances. Prowl was killing 5 guys who were potentially dangerous. Arcee could have incapacitated Sunstorm.

More important, however, is the difference in motive. Prowl was being business like. He killed 5 guys who were likely to be trouble one way or another, (even being unable to combine), and got on with his day. He probably would have been happier not to even be in that spot to begin with. In contrast, Arcee is a homicidal maniac. The only thing that really distinguished her from Bombshell is that she happens to (sort of) listen to Prowl.

Of course, the longer Prowl uses her, the harder she will be to control. (Look at her reaction when Prowl calls her out over Sunstorm. She is basically daring him to do something.) And, we can assume that will go very badly for Prowl in the near future.

Blurr came off as kind of whiny. Prowl needed somebody fast enough to catch and subdue Bombshell. It would make sense to assume that Prowl was hoping Blurr would catch up to Bombshell sooner (before the latter got to his hiding spot) that rather than later.

he says as he reads about Fort Max returning in MTMTE.)

Fort Max was never dead, just hurt real bad.

Apparently Sky-Byte is getting introduced into the story in the next issue, I’m not really sure how I feel about that. I’ll try to stay on the end of cautiously optimistic.

I seen no reason for worry about the comic itself. Barber can write. However, I do wonder if this has anything to do with this weekend's "Hall of Fame" event at BotCon.



Dom
-really liking this book.

BWprowl wrote:Transfans are a weird bunch. They get buttmad if you don’t use or kill the nostalgia-riding ’84-’85 characters, but they also love seeing ‘obscure’ characters get used and get buttmad if those guys get shoved to the side or killed. Did anyone really give a crap about Predator Skydive before they got to whine about Barber killing him in this issue? I’ll be honest: I didn’t even realize he was one of the Predators when I was reading it, I only just now caught that from reading Dom’s post. I figured this extra Skydive was just a redshirt Barber had cooked up to use, like the spare Aerialbot who exploded last issue.

I didn't even know that guy was a spare Aerialbot! I thought they'd just gone and willy-nilly off'd one of them.

I love how Prowl describes the other guy involved in that explosion. "An Aerialbot and some other guy I don't know. He turned into a hovercraft or something."

Apparently Sky-Byte is getting introduced into the story in the next issue, I’m not really sure how I feel about that. I’ll try to stay on the end of cautiously optimistic.

...oh, wow, really? Uh.

Well, let's see how it pans out.

Dom-kun wrote:Fort Max was never dead, just hurt real bad.

My bad. Everyone else died in Wreckers, I guess I just figured he did too. (Has anyone brought up Springer lately?)