The Energon Pub

the title says spoilers, and you're going to get them. if you don't want 'em, stop reading now.

wow, damn fine issue. i only have one complaint: miscolored seekers again (2nd panel, page 17).

aside from that minor flub, there was plenty to enjoy: plenty of action, interesting characterization (especially the exchange between prowl and hot rod), an engrossing storyline (i loved that they were unsuccessful in their attempt to retrieve koska in one piece - it gets boring when the autobots succeed in every mission), and of course lots of foreshadowing, giving us plenty to look forward to in devastation. there was more stuff hinting that scorponok is behind the machination (note the absence of heads on the sunstreaker replicas), and the promise of the return of the cassettes (which no doubt means soundwave's return is close at hand), sixshot, and the reapers (who hopefully will prove more intriguing than they were in the lackluster sixshot spotlight). and, quite possibly, the introduction of headmasters.

it's going to be a loooooooooong wait until devastation.

I should be picking this up tomorrow night. I can't wait.

I personally thought the Sixshot spotlight was good. But, to each their own.

What intrigues me is what exactly the hell Prime saw.

For once though, i was actually hoping for the destruction of primes body. maybe not permenantly, but i wasn't too excited when he said,"i'm back in play"

Judge Deliberata wrote:I personally thought the Sixshot spotlight was good.

It was good. It would have been a whole lot better, though, if it wasn't drawn by Puffy Pat Junior.

This was an okay issue. I enjoyed the other two better.

Lots of stuff here to use to guess on what may be coming down the line.

One thing that bothered me. Prowl said to Hot Shot, "You may out rank me, but I'm the commander of this operation..." something like that. When has Hot Rod (not Rodimus Prime) ever outranked Prowl??? I'd be interested to see a breakdown in flow chart format (or another), in the power structure in the Autobot army.

I was also intrigued by the Machinations advancements. While it does look Headmaster like to me, I'm not sure that was the intention here. I saw them as possible drone bodies for humans to control, their fake humans. Because supposedly, Hunter was taking well to the implants.... are the implants headmaster cybernetics, or just some kind of armor control cybernetics.

I also loved Prowl's tactics with Megatron...

"He has no long range fire power in this mode, and if he transforms one of the Decepticons has to hold him for it to be useful so let's back up and fire at him from far away..." again, paraphrasing...

I thought this was a nice nod to those who do not like the Megatron gun alt mode, and complain that he needs somebody else to use him...

So I assume the head that we saw in the circuits was Sentinel Prime??? He seemed to have a Big Convoy look to him...

The Ore 13 defeat...again. Disappointingly happened with Thunderwing... Disappointingly similar thing happens to Megatron. At least they are consistant.

It is WAY too long of a wait for Devastation. Thankfully, there are still the Megatron origin, and Galvatron Spotlight to get to this summer.

tigertracks 24 wrote:One thing that bothered me. Prowl said to Hot Shot, "You may out rank me, but I'm the commander of this operation..." something like that. When has Hot Rod (not Rodimus Prime) ever outranked Prowl??? I'd be interested to see a breakdown in flow chart format (or another), in the power structure in the Autobot army.

Didn't Prowl say, "I may not outrank you"? That doesn't mean Hot Rod outranks him.

Leonardo wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:One thing that bothered me. Prowl said to Hot Shot, "You may out rank me, but I'm the commander of this operation..." something like that. When has Hot Rod (not Rodimus Prime) ever outranked Prowl??? I'd be interested to see a breakdown in flow chart format (or another), in the power structure in the Autobot army.

Didn't Prowl say, "I may not outrank you"? That doesn't mean Hot Rod outranks him.

I did say I was paraphrasing...but yes, you are right...

And yes, I suppose that the way it was actually written does actually mean they are equals in rank...my mistake, but that still seems odd to me, I thought Prowl was 'second in command' and while I understand they haven't had much continuity together, when they were together I assumed that the rankings would still apply, which means exactly what we always hear I guess..

tigertracks 24 wrote:

Leonardo wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:One thing that bothered me. Prowl said to Hot Shot, "You may out rank me, but I'm the commander of this operation..." something like that. When has Hot Rod (not Rodimus Prime) ever outranked Prowl??? I'd be interested to see a breakdown in flow chart format (or another), in the power structure in the Autobot army.

Didn't Prowl say, "I may not outrank you"? That doesn't mean Hot Rod outranks him.

I did say I was paraphrasing...but yes, you are right...

And yes, I suppose that the way it was actually written does actually mean they are equals in rank...my mistake, but that still seems odd to me, I thought Prowl was 'second in command' and while I understand they haven't had much continuity together, when they were together I assumed that the rankings would still apply, which means exactly what we always hear I guess..

I think it's all part of IDW's revamp. Things are not what they seem!

Leonardo wrote:
I think it's all part of IDW's revamp. Things are not what they seem!

Aah...that phrase...used with Transformers.

I guess I should stick with GI Joe's...they have no tagline that involves deception, which can be used to explain many things in said tagline's universe.

....ughh....I've gone cross-eyed....

tigertracks 24 wrote:
So I assume the head that we saw in the circuits was Sentinel Prime??? He seemed to have a Big Convoy look to him....

thats the first thing i thought to, could be intresting to see where they go with this.

I'd say with the Prowl/Hot Rod exchange that both of them were in charge of their own teams, just like Springer was the guy in charge in the Kup Spotlight. So I'd say they each have some kind of equal ranking of a field commander.

Hairball178 wrote:I'd say with the Prowl/Hot Rod exchange that both of them were in charge of their own teams, just like Springer was the guy in charge in the Kup Spotlight. So I'd say they each have some kind of equal ranking of a field commander.

I'm sure you are right, especially after the Springer/Prowl exchange in the Kup spotlight. I guess it's just a sobering thought for us Prowl fans, because we had so little already, and now he loses his rank, and basically comes off looking like an uncaring @$$ much of the time.

tigertracks 24 wrote:

Hairball178 wrote:I'd say with the Prowl/Hot Rod exchange that both of them were in charge of their own teams, just like Springer was the guy in charge in the Kup Spotlight. So I'd say they each have some kind of equal ranking of a field commander.

I'm sure you are right, especially after the Springer/Prowl exchange in the Kup spotlight. I guess it's just a sobering thought for us Prowl fans, because we had so little already, and now he loses his rank, and basically comes off looking like an uncaring @$$ much of the time.

I can't remember, in the Kup spotlight, did Prowl say anything to Springer about their ranks? Was it implied that Springer is of a lower ranking than Prowl (and, evidently, Hot Rod)?

Leonardo wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

Hairball178 wrote:I'd say with the Prowl/Hot Rod exchange that both of them were in charge of their own teams, just like Springer was the guy in charge in the Kup Spotlight. So I'd say they each have some kind of equal ranking of a field commander.

I'm sure you are right, especially after the Springer/Prowl exchange in the Kup spotlight. I guess it's just a sobering thought for us Prowl fans, because we had so little already, and now he loses his rank, and basically comes off looking like an uncaring @$$ much of the time.

I can't remember, in the Kup spotlight, did Prowl say anything to Springer about their ranks? Was it implied that Springer is of a lower ranking than Prowl (and, evidently, Hot Rod)?

No, I don't think so, but it was made clear that Prowl could not give Springer orders to stop his quest for Kup, no matter how fruitless or illogical. He seemed to be speaking at a level of equals then also, but was trying to guilt Springer using logic, into stopping the quest...

Springer did seem to have a lot of pull though. He was supposed to be leading the Wreckers, but he grabbed another whole ARK and crew to use for this quest, which obviously he did not need Prime's or anyone else's approval to do...

So, that would put Prowl, Hot Rod and Springer on equal footing in terms of rank, I suppose. I wonder where Ultra Magnus would be; just a soldier?

Leonardo wrote:So, that would put Prowl, Hot Rod and Springer on equal footing in terms of rank, I suppose. I wonder where Ultra Magnus would be; just a soldier?

Good question... a very trusted soldier, one who is dependable to accompish most anything I imagine.

One thing I noticed - when Hot Rod is being "beamed up", Koska or whatever his name is looks in remarkably good shape but then the next we see no Hot Rod and Koska is a puddle but we do have Nightbeat - could Nightbeat have been the one to squish Koska after brining him up from the surface?

jdwals wrote:One thing I noticed - when Hot Rod is being "beamed up", Koska or whatever his name is looks in remarkably good shape but then the next we see no Hot Rod and Koska is a puddle but we do have Nightbeat - could Nightbeat have been the one to squish Koska after brining him up from the surface?

That's one of my ongoing theories. But the only proof we have now is Nightbeats word. I like to let this play out more and see what HotRod says.

jdwals wrote:One thing I noticed - when Hot Rod is being "beamed up", Koska or whatever his name is looks in remarkably good shape but then the next we see no Hot Rod and Koska is a puddle but we do have Nightbeat - could Nightbeat have been the one to squish Koska after brining him up from the surface?

You mean because of whatever that one person did to his head in the NIghtbeat Spotlight right???

Another good issue IMO. Good pacing of the story and more little easter eggs (a box of files marked Transfans where Ironhide had parked).

Hot Rod seemed to be doing a good job of protecting Koska with his body, that's why he took such a beating isn't it? Don't have the Nightbeat spotlight so I don't know anything about this implant, but there is certainly something iffy about that guy.

And Sixshot is on his way. WOO! Love the fact that Megs got beaten once and decided that was the end of this planet. No second chances. No attempt to strike back. And Prime calls forth a number of bots for reinforcements. Megs calls in one. One that has Astrotrain quivering. Can you imagine the Devastation he could bring if he was powered up on Ore 13? Not that he would need it, but still...

I was also intrigued by the Machinations advancements. While it does look Headmaster like to me, I'm not sure that was the intention here. I saw them as possible drone bodies for humans to control, their fake humans. Because supposedly, Hunter was taking well to the implants.... are the implants headmaster cybernetics, or just some kind of armor control cybernetics.

In the Magnus spotlight, the Headmaster process 'appears' (I say appears because although it was obvious what it was, it was never explicitly stated that was what it was) to consist of implants and cervos made from tf tech. Unless it's like the 'Masterforce' series where the humans transform into heads and join onto lifeless drones.

I also suspect Galvatron ordered Nightbeat to squash Koska - the man didn't look like he 'caught flak', he looked like he'd been stepped on.

I also wonder if Hunter will become Nightbeat's Headmaster component at some point, resolving the sticky issue of the implant in Nightbeat's head.

Decent issue. Has me wondering just what will happen in the long run, and where the story goes from here.

jdwals wrote:One thing I noticed - when Hot Rod is being "beamed up", Koska or whatever his name is looks in remarkably good shape but then the next we see no Hot Rod and Koska is a puddle but we do have Nightbeat - could Nightbeat have been the one to squish Koska after brining him up from the surface?

i agree that it's a distinct possibility, especially since it really didn't look like anything hit him. but, if i may play devil's advocate for a moment, koska wasn't really human, so we can't be sure what would naturally happen to him upon death. it could be that the facsimiles are specifically designed to dissolve when they die, so as to prevent any examination of the body which could potentially uncover evidence of what they actually are.

jdwals wrote:One thing I noticed - when Hot Rod is being "beamed up", Koska or whatever his name is looks in remarkably good shape but then the next we see no Hot Rod and Koska is a puddle but we do have Nightbeat - could Nightbeat have been the one to squish Koska after brining him up from the surface?

Exactly what I thought. We see Hot Rod just having his back shredded protecting Koska(?). So it looks like he's in one piece. And that scene with Nightbeat... I definitely think Nightbeat killed/destroyed him.