IDW TF Spotlight: Cyclonus and Wheelie

[Sam]

Just bought and read these two today.

I liked both, the Cyclonus one fleshes out the plot some more, and they did not make Wheelie suck!

[GoktimusPrime]

>>>SPOILERS AHOY<<<



As some of us predicted, Spotlight Wheelie did focus on the whole survivalist thing, which previous TF fictions have really overlooked. In G1 it was always just this backstory of him having been a survivalist who soon came in contact with other Autobots and that was the end of that, with the sole exception of "Wheelie The Wild Boy of Quintessa."

I like how this story was a kind of reversal on G1 Wheelie's evolution - instead of going from being some tough lone survivor and becoming some overzealous 'kid' who's trying to prove himself to the other Autobots (and Daniel), he went the complete other way around (only w/o Daniel, ehehehe). And I liked how the story did elaborate on his struggle for survival - reminded me of the movie "Enemy Mine." The appearance of Chaos was a nice G1 Easter Egg. I also liked how they justified the use of his slingshot.

However I found the use of Varta's translator as a means of introducing the rhyming verse to be pretty lame and implausible - they're speaking in translated Cybertronian and "Vartanese"... it's virtually impossible that they would happen to be able to form rhyming verses in each others' languages when translated, let alone when translated to English for the readers. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't suspend enough disbelief to swallow that. (-_-) It's basically impossible to translate Earth languages accurately and maintain them as rhyming verses... the concept of doing it with entirely alien languages is just ... yeah.

I really liked the plot twist on that last page - very M. Night Shyamalanesque!

I got Cover B, which I prefer over Cover A cos it's got that whole old-school G1 Marvel style to it, right down to the intentionally over-pixelated colours (which only the US G1 comics had - the UK comics were never so poorly printed) and simulated "weathering" like wrinkles, creases, stains, tears and even G1-like art style. There's even a fake worn-out "50c" price sticker (that looks peeled) on it! There's also a small circle which says "Issue #1 of 1." Heh.

Look at Hotspot's list where Wheelie is on the bottom right after Roller - a reference of Lil'Formers (the skit in question is printed on the back inside cover). Bumper's name appears - but so does one Transformer who made a very brief appearance in G1 and has never been mentioned since in official canon -- Scrounge! Good old Scrounge! Get it? Wheelie? Har!

I also really liked Spotlight: Cyclonus as part of the overall IDW canon - but it's not recommended for anyone who's not familiar with it. Spotlight: Wheelie is a stand-alone issue - as the cover states, it's a self-contained story. Spotlight: Cyclonus is anything but a self-contained story. But I like it.

Look at the very last panel - LORD STRAXUS!! WoooOOooOOOooOooOOOOOooooOoo!

Who's that Transformer on the far right hand side though? (standing behind Jhiaxus' left) He looks familiar...

[i_amtrunks]

Spotlight Cyclonus was fantastic.

Agree with Gok, not to read it until you have read at least half a dozen Spotlight issues (Nightbeat, Prime, Galvatron, Arcee, Shockwave, Ultra Magnus) and have an understanding of Stormbringer and the "-tion" books.
It manages to tie so many fo Furmans threads together, in such a way as to never feel as if it is trying to do too much, it is such a packed book, and I cannot wait for the next 3 in the series.
I have no idea who the other bot is Gok, perhaps it's IDW's Xaaron?
What I would like to know is how Thunderwing is being powered, and why if you are going to use him as a guard dog, have him only attack if you enter the cave? You can stay right outside and plan all you want, but go in the cave with the glowing red eyes, and BAM!

Spotlight Whelie was enjoyable, well drawn, and paced, and the surprise at the end will have a massive impact on the Furmanverse. Unless you are a bigoted Wheelie hater you'll feel for the little fella by the end of the issue. A very enjoyable one off issue, but it did seem rather similar in part to the other fully standalone Spotlight; Kup.

[Paulbot]

Agree with Gok, not to read it until you have read at least half a dozen Spotlight issues (Nightbeat, Prime, Galvatron, Arcee, Shockwave, Ultra Magnus) and have an understanding of Stormbringer and the "-tion" books.It manages to tie so many fo Furmans threads together

And I agree with both of them. It does make all those random Spotlight stories important and it actually feels like it's building towards a conclusion.

[GoktimusPrime]

...which is something I always loved about Furman's writing since G1.