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Transformers Spotlight: Bumblebee preview @ Comicbook Resources.

Is this before or after the steaming pile / light-hearted and "challenging" to reconcile with continuity homage to Big Looker that was the Bumblebee miniseries?

After, by the look of things. During the tail-end of Costa's run, leading up to the reboot. It references "Police Action", which was the last Earth-based storyline. Don't remember much about it, though.

Again, it's an era I'd rather not revisit...but Hasbro wanted it, I guess.

I think Hasbro would probably have settled for 20-or-so pages of the toy character posing, to be perfectly honest. Can't fault IDW for setting these off to one side a bit rather that in the midst of current story arcs.

On the strength of this it's another one with little reason to exist other than as a pack-in, though.

I find it rather odd that a story about the beginning of bumblebee's career as a leader takes place near the end of the first half of his career. By that point, counting both the ongoing and his miniseries, he's been leading for like 25 issues?

From the look of things, the decepticon squad is comprised of...Dragstrip, another stunticon, two predacons and one other bot. The predacons have to be Rampage [the one on the right, as we see it, of the sword wielder] and...Tantrum? Headstrong? Maaaaybe Razorclaw AND Rampage?

Wouldn't have minded a back-to-basics series set on Earth with a limited cast and an emphasis on subterfuge. This almost seems like a pilot for just such a thing.

Have to admit, this issue was pretty forgettable. Bumblebee angsts for a bit, gets beat up, takes out a few 'Cons and then...uh...that's about it. Oh, and there was some more tedious Metroplex-peddling tossed in too, for good measure. It probably would have been mediocre but enjoyable, except the art's really bad throughout.

Terome wrote:Wouldn't have minded a back-to-basics series set on Earth with a limited cast and an emphasis on subterfuge. This almost seems like a pilot for just such a thing.

I'm pretty sure you just described Furman's pitch for Infiltration...

I'd love to see that sort of story, as long as the writer didn't betray the entire concept a handful of issues in like Furman did. But I don't think it'd be very easy to maintain that dynamic now after all the nonsense that's gone on on Earth in the IDW books.

Well that was certainly 22 pages.

It certainly was 22 pages. And they went in order too which is always nice.

This current run of spotlights has been pretty drab to be honest. I thought the megatron one was awesome (but probably not really needed) and the rest have been well below par of what the two ongoings are producing.

This isnt as bad as thundercrackers but its only a tiny bit better. The tone seems very similar to the Bumblebee mini (as in very sunbow). I didnt hate it but I didnt enjoy it either.

Thought the art sucked however. But given that it came out the same week as MTMTE 14 it was always going to suffer in comparison.

Hmmm, first few pages, Bumblebee has no cane and needs no cane. Next few, Bumblebee has the cane. WTF?

This issue suffered from the fact that it was intended to be a toy-pack in with a character they've already exhausted in writing. Looking back, I honestly can't see how Bumblebee was voted to be the leader over, say, Ratchet. EVERYBODY praises Ratchet's talents and his bedside manners, what went wrong there?

Very poor art that progressively got worse as the issue moved on. It's like after the preview pages, the guy stopped caring or did a very, very rushed job. My hands shake and I have no idea of perspective, but I can probably draw a better Starscream than the one we got in the final pages.

Pretty meh issue, but hey, reading almost anything else after MTMTE 14 means this is expected...

Inoffensive.

The art is a bit offensive. Did you see the bit with Magnus at the end? Thats pretty terrible drawing in anyones book.

Yeah, I'm not sure what was up with Magnus. But it's nice that they're putting new artists on inconsequential stories where they can muck up a bit without inflaming the message boards.

I see your point but I cant agree. There's a world of difference between this and other issues drawn by Roche, Guido, Su etc. And yet IDW have charged me the same amount. This looks like a rush job, possibly by someone that wasnt fully aware of how some of the robots looked. Its not good enough.

Let them lose on stuff like Mars Attacks maybe. Or a spotlight which has no link to the ongoing (a beast wars special maybe or even something based on the movies). Maybe even the digital stuff.

I realise that some artists are more some peoples cup of tea then others, but I genuinely think this is badly drawn art rather than a choice of a particular style. Some pages aren't too bad but others are pretty rubbish. Page 18 is a montage of previous splash pages. Page 22 features Magnus up close than the rest so he should have more detail (going by the rest of the issues style) but he's a muddled mess. And the first time we see Thundercracker on page 9 he looks ridiculous. The less said about starscream when he enters the spacebridge the better.

Terome wrote:Inoffensive.

Not fair, I called bagsey on the shortest review of this book.

Just you try and come up with a shorter summing up of Reg 89 than me.

inflatable dalek wrote:Not fair, I called bagsey on the shortest review of this book.

Just you try and come up with a shorter summing up of Reg 89 than me.

Meh

Terome wrote:Inoffensive.

I thought it was quite sweet (endearing) TBH... worth a punt on a paper copy, anyway.

Denyer wrote:I thought it was quite sweet (endearing) TBH... worth a punt on a paper copy, anyway.

It was a bit sweet, I agree. Didn't dislike it, but there wasn't much to really go on. Liked Hot Spot.