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Post by Andy Turnbull on Apr 17, 2008 10:13:13 GMT
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Apr 17, 2008 11:20:38 GMT
Ah yes, I saw these a few days ago. Looks good enough. Do we actually have a release date for this now or are we still expecting it last month?
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 17, 2008 11:23:47 GMT
I've got some chicken entrails. Perhaps they will help us divine when it's out.
=Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Apr 17, 2008 11:26:31 GMT
No idea, but I don't think it's this week if that helps.
Andy
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Apr 17, 2008 13:38:54 GMT
Lovely jubbly!
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Post by legios on Apr 17, 2008 18:57:16 GMT
It's looking decent. But it would help if they could actually reschedule it so I have some idea when it might be on the shelves.... Until I actually hear a credible release date for it my interest will remain muted.
Karl
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Post by Jaymz on Apr 17, 2008 21:44:45 GMT
Next week, 23rd or 24th April depending when your LCS gets deliveries. Subject to change of course, or subject to Diamond UK...
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Post by karla on Apr 17, 2008 22:35:21 GMT
wooo grimlock  ! who designed starscream's kneecaps?? they look like plug sockets!! its always bothered me that, what a fool |
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Post by andrewbcalculating on Apr 18, 2008 8:53:47 GMT
I don't like Grimlock's red hands.
|<o>|
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Post by Jaymz on Apr 23, 2008 23:27:36 GMT
It's out. Fairly standard, not great, but not awful.
Couple of mistakes, control room scribbled on a door with penciller note "put better font" clearing visable underneath it and a Grimlock word balloon pointing to the wrong robot in one scene.
3 colourists and it shows, I thought the penciller had changed at first.
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Post by chrismcfeely on Apr 24, 2008 11:46:29 GMT
A chap at work saw the cover of this and declared it to be "Spotlight: Cyril Sneer." I laughed my arse off, but then that was the only thing I could think when I was reading it!
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
Posts: 5,527
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Post by kayevcee on Apr 24, 2008 20:15:51 GMT
I thought it was pretty good, but then the last IDW issue I read was Spotlight Mirage. Didn't mind the changes in colourist. Yes it was a plot-by-numbers but it was resolved neatly and there were a couple of fun moments, almost ruined by a speech bubble containing some important Grimlock dialogue coming from Scorponok. A troubled release all round, I think.
-Nick
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 24, 2008 21:01:06 GMT
A solid if unexceptional read but a tad better than the last 3 IDW Tf comics I read. The lettering errors did annoy me considering the comic was pretty late.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Apr 25, 2008 16:17:11 GMT
Good read, fairly enjoyable. Looking forward to more of the plotline when it is continued - presumably in AHM?
Was mine the only issue to be missing a chunk of a speech balloon off the edge of one page?? That was the biggest mistake I could see and as Ralph says very annoying giving this is a month late.
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
Posts: 5,527
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Post by kayevcee on Apr 25, 2008 18:31:14 GMT
Nope, mine was the same. In fact, the whole page seemed off-centre.
-Nick
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2008 11:03:58 GMT
A chap at work saw the cover of this and declared it to be "Spotlight: Cyril Sneer." I laughed my arse off, but then that was the only thing I could think when I was reading it! Yes, Grimlock's new mouth design does make him look more like Bert Raccoons nemesis than Megatron's. All we need now is for someone to give him a cigar and get Nel Yomtov to paint him pink then it would be complete. |
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 26, 2008 16:49:45 GMT
I'm not a fan of the teeth, I must admit.
-Ralph
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Post by Mark_Stevenson on Apr 29, 2008 21:13:34 GMT
Well I've read that twice this evening, and both times my reaction has been... "Hmph."
There's some wince-inducing gaffes (already listed above) which, individually, could be brushed over, but there does seem to be a lot of them here. The colours seem very off as well.
The artwork seems really rushed and sloppy in places. There's very much a vibe of b-list Marvel UK 'product' circa 1993 about the whole thing. I was half expecting a Death's Head II cameo.
The saddest thing of all is the writing though. Given Simon Furman's love-affair with Grimlock over the last 20 years (if anyone ever does a chart ranking Transformers by page count he's gotta make the top 5) you'd think he'd pull something a bit more visceral out of the bag. Grimlock wakes up with a hangover, mopes around a bit, gets into a fight.... and that's it, really. We got a much, much better feel for Grimlock from 'Spotlight: Shockwave'. This brings nothing new to the character, and doesn't expand on anything that's previously been done. It seems to exist purely to get Grimlock out of the lava for the purpose of future storylines, rather than actually shining a Spotlight on him.
Surely this should have been so much more.
Mx
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2008 8:34:49 GMT
In some places it does feel almost like Spotlight By Numbers:
1) isolate character from team-mates
2) highlight renegade/maverick status
3) mention mildly violent "edgy" tendencies
4) character overcomes tendencies
5) antagonist fails to tempt character to the other side
6) close with cackling antagonist's ongoing subplot tease
That being said, I liked the use of Gimlock's sword (though the shot of him deflecting Scorponok's shots was poor), I liked the guilt/honour angle of his feelings towards the other "Dynobots", and I liked the token gesture towards the old school cartoonish speech patterns.
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Gav
Drone
John Travoltage!
Posts: 2,047
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Post by Gav on Apr 30, 2008 12:56:58 GMT
IGN's review os possibly the worst comics review I've ever read:
I'm not a car guy, so I didn't immediately become attached to the Transformer who changes into my favorite car. Instead, I attached myself to the one that changes into my favorite dinosaur. I'm not the biggest Transformers fan in the world, but the Grimlock character has always been my favorite, because in addition to being a giant robot that transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, his speech sounds like a foreign child speaking English for the first time. I suppose it's that pairing of disparate characteristics that made him stand out for me.
I don't read every single Transformers book that hits the racks, and that was part of my problem here. I figured a book titled Transformers Spotlight: Grimlock would give me a one shot story "spotlighting" Grimlock, and I'd get to relive a piece of my childhood with a new story featuring some robotic T Rex action. This issue does provide some of that, but this is merely part of a larger story, and ultimately, lost me on a number of points, not the least of which was, "Why does Grimlock speak normally now?". I guess that's my fault for not reading the solicitation information, but I figured a one-shot would be a safe bet.
Simon Furman's story is good, and I like seeing how these characters are tying into a universe clearly inspired by the film. However, Marcelo Matere's art is a mixed bag for me. While the robots and action sequences generally look good, the art seems a bit sketchy in points. The coloring also gets nearly monochromatic for large parts of the issue by what seems like an overuse of red and orange, which really washes out the art. I won't say that I won't pick up another Transformers book again, but I've certainly learned I need to do a bit of research before I do again.
Me miss old Grimlock.
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Apr 30, 2008 13:01:05 GMT
Heh. I wouldn't pay any attention to an IGN review - EVER.
Andy
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Apr 30, 2008 13:08:07 GMT
tying into a universe clearly inspired by the film Teehee! If only he knew. |
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Post by legios on Apr 30, 2008 20:10:01 GMT
Heh. I wouldn't pay any attention to an IGN review - EVER. Andy People actually read that stuff? I thought it was just part of the general internet chaff. Anyway, "Spotlight: Grimlock"...... Not terrible, but neither was it particularly outstanding. As Mark observed it doesn't really work terribly well as a stand-alone story. In fact it feels more like it is the first issue of some new series. If that was what it was I might be inclined to judge it more favourably. As it stands, it feels like it actually lacks anything that functions as an ending - if it was much more open ended all the pages would fall out the back. What it does it does reasonably competently, but it doesn't really fit the bill of what the "Spotlights" were originally suggested to be. (On that note - the longer the Spotlights go on the more they feel like they have been slightly mis-sold. Several of the later ones have felt much more like bits of a series that IDW couldn't fit into the page count of their other mini-series than stand-alone stories focussing on a given character). The colouring feels a bit ragged as well - the styles of the three colourists don't mesh very well, giving the book a bit of a disjointed feel to it. Grimlock's teeth also make him look like his face zips up.... On the plus side I though that Grimlock's "voice" was quite interesting, and I think it sets up some decent directions that he could be taken as a character. By no means did I dislike it as much as "Spotlight:SixShot" or "Spotlight:Optimus Prime", it was certainly readable enough. It just feel short of the mark that had been set by things like "Shockwave", "Nightbeat" and "Kup". I think I would probably have liked it better if it was honest about being the first issue of a series, rather than trying to pass itself off as a one-shot story. Ah well, they can't all be home runs. Karl |
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Post by Shockprowl on May 1, 2008 11:13:27 GMT
I think everyone's pretty much summed this one up. Part one of a longer story. I thought it was good actually, as a part one, as a spotlight, so so. The mistakes were terrible. Wrong speach bubble, off set pages. Not Good. Unprofessional. But the story was good and sets up things very nicely I thought for the ongoing greater plot. Scorponok is very interesting and I agree with who-ever-it-was who mentioned the interesting nature of Grimlock's guilt over his fellow Dynobots. I also didn't like Grimlock's teeth.
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Post by The Doctor on May 1, 2008 16:26:42 GMT
I will admit, IDW's output thus far this year is skating on thin ice for me. There has been a noticeable drop in quality overall and an increase in production mistakes in the floppy format.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on May 1, 2008 19:18:30 GMT
I will admit, IDW's output thus far this year is skating on thin ice for me. There has been a noticeable drop in quality overall and an increase in production mistakes in the floppy format. -Ralph I'm feeling much the same to be honest. I'm a bit at a crossroads with IDW's TF stuff. (already let my other IDW book "Fallen Angel" go on cost and space grounds). The last few "Spotlights" haven't really worked for me, I'm not really enthused by things like "All Hail Megatron" - the preview pages don't really do much to make me well disposed to it, and I was left feeling somewhat shortchanged by the ending of the last mini-series (in fact, in retrospect the series I have been most satisfied with was "Stormbringer"). I'm on the cusp of letting their output go by, seeing what it is like and then picking up trades if and when they materialise. Karl |
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Post by Fortmax2020 on May 2, 2008 13:49:28 GMT
Ahh, another potential Tradesman! Join me Karl!
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Post by The Doctor on May 7, 2008 22:05:08 GMT
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Post by charlesrocketboy on May 8, 2008 12:40:33 GMT
Since that's been covered and Chris apologised, I'll not bring it up!
Quite enjoyable I felt (I love Grimlock's moping causing chaos and destruction without him realising), and I like Grimlock's guilt over the other Dino's & his general stubborn bastardness. I really like him not joining Scorponok over a minor slight from ages ago.
As a Part 1 for Maximum Dinobots, it's very good. Not quite as good as a standalone, but still a fun read. (It's better than Spotlight Mirage, but... well, yeah.)
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Post by The Doctor on May 8, 2008 15:38:35 GMT
Does anyone know what issues will be in Spotlight Volume 3 (the trade)? I'm thinking of switching to trades due to the production errors creeping into the single issues and don't want to buy stories twice.
-Ralph
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